YouTube is rising quick on TVs, and podcasts are main the cost

Over the previous decade, podcasts have exploded in reputation, and for many individuals, having one enjoying whereas they work, commute, or unwind has turn out to be second nature. Whereas apps like Spotify and Apple Podcasts stay standard platforms for listening, YouTube has emerged as one of many greatest locations for podcasts, providing each audio and video. And in accordance with the most recent numbers, it simply had its greatest yr for podcasts but.

In a latest blog post, YouTube revealed that 2025 marked one of many strongest years ever for podcasts on the platform, particularly on TVs. In keeping with YouTube, viewers watched greater than 700 million hours of podcasts on front room units by October 2025, almost double the earlier yr’s viewing time.

“The lounge simply continues to be this superb vibrant spot by way of consumption,” stated Steve McLendon, YouTube’s head of podcast merchandise, talking to Bloomberg. “We knew video can be huge for podcasting, nevertheless it continues to shock us how huge it’s.”

Earlier this yr, YouTube introduced that TV has surpassed mobile devices as the first approach folks watch YouTube within the US, and that viewers worldwide now watch a couple of billion hours of YouTube on their TVs every day.

YouTube is without doubt one of the largest streaming platforms within the US

It lately up to date its TV app with a brand new watch display screen

Credit score: Pocket-lint / Glenn Carstens-Peters / unsplash / Canva

In keeping with Nielsen data, YouTube stays one of many largest streaming platforms within the US. In its November 2025 report, streaming accounted for 46.7 p.c of complete TV viewership, with YouTube main all streaming companies at 12.9 p.c, adopted by Netflix at 8.3 p.c. So seeing YouTube’s podcast numbers explode on TV may not be all that stunning, on condition that increasingly more persons are tuning in to YouTube at evening on their TVs, changing conventional cable and broadcast TV.

“With podcasting and YouTube and discovery on tv, there isn’t a restrict to potential late evening exhibits,” McLendon instructed Bloomberg.

Lately, YouTube updated its TV watch page to make it a “extra intuitive expertise with simpler navigation.” As a part of the replace, YouTube rearranged a number of on-screen consumer interface parts whereas a video is enjoying, making it simpler to view a video’s description, learn feedback, and discover extra content material from the channel. These adjustments started rolling out to the YouTube TV app in early December.

In its weblog publish, YouTube says it can proceed to develop “extra methods to get pleasure from podcasts” on the platform in 2026, together with making it simpler for content material creators to generate clips from their podcast for his or her audiences to observe.

It is value noting that different platforms like Spotify have additionally began leaning into video, with Spotify asserting in November that it now has half one million video podcasts which were watched by nearly 400 million folks (through TechCrunch).

In different YouTube-related information, the streaming big recently announced it can have the unique world rights to The Oscars beginning in 2029, after signing a multi-year take care of the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences. The primary Oscars to debut on YouTube would be the one hundred and first Oscars Ceremony in 2029, and the deal runs by means of 2033.