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

Over the previous decade, podcasts have exploded in recognition, and for many individuals, having one enjoying whereas they work, commute, or unwind has turn into second nature. Whereas apps like Spotify and Apple Podcasts stay fashionable platforms for listening, YouTube has emerged as one of many largest locations for podcasts, providing each audio and video. And in accordance with the newest numbers, it simply had its largest 12 months 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 accordance with YouTube, viewers watched greater than 700 million hours of podcasts on front room units by October 2025, practically double the earlier 12 months’s viewing time.

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

Earlier this 12 months, YouTube introduced that TV has surpassed mobile devices as the first manner individuals watch YouTube within the US, and that viewers worldwide now watch multiple billion hours of YouTube on their TVs every day.

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

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

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

In accordance 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 whole TV viewership, with YouTube main all streaming providers at 12.9 p.c, adopted by Netflix at 8.3 p.c. So seeing YouTube’s podcast numbers explode on TV won’t be all that shocking, on condition that an increasing number of persons are tuning in to YouTube at night time on their TVs, changing conventional cable and broadcast TV.

“With podcasting and YouTube and discovery on tv, there is no such thing as a restrict to potential late night time reveals,” McLendon informed Bloomberg.

Just 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 person 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 price 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 individuals (by way of TechCrunch).

In different YouTube-related information, the streaming big recently announced it can have the unique international rights to The Oscars beginning in 2029, after signing a multi-year cope with 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 via 2033.