YouTube, the world’s largest video platform, is now competing in the audio-space with a dedicated page for Podcasts

We reported in March this year that Pod News received an 84-page presentation produced by YouTube, planning to launch a dedicated page for podcasts. A report by 9to5Google confirms the platform has added a dedicated page for podcasts, with TechCrunch noting that the new podcast destination is now live for U.S. users, after the URL was discovered to be live ahead of any formal announcement.

According to a report by 9to5Google, the dedicated podcast page YouTube.com/podcasts went live sometime last month and is now linked, at least for some users, on YouTube’s existing Explore page alongside other top destinations like Gaming, Sports, Learning, Fashion and others. It did not appear in the website’s sidebar navigation, however.

“It appears to have first gone live in late July, and is slowly becoming more widely available as it’s not showing up for all users we checked with today,” said 9to5Google.

It can be accessed only in the US at youtube.com/podcasts or through the Explore page (in-app or browser), where there is a new podcast tab. The new page features trending shows and channels that already have millions of subscribers, like The H3 Podcast or Logan Paul’s podcast, but otherwise does not exhibit a ton of curation.

The Verge’s reporter was able to access the platform and noted that “the page is not nearly as sophisticated as rival podcast platforms.” 9to5Google gave a similar report about the new podcast experience.

“You’re just browsing through regular video thumbnails rather than anything more optimized. Meanwhile, tapping one just opens the regular player on Android, and doesn’t even default to the “Listening controls” available for YouTube Premium subscribers. You get large buttons and shortcuts to like, save, and quickly adjust playback speed,” 9to5Google said.

The podcast experience for end users will presumably get more optimized over time, while it remains to be seen what the UI in YouTube Music is going to be. Hopefully, it’s out of the way for people that just want to use that application for songs.