YouTube continues to compete against its podcast rivals such as Amazon, Apple, and Spotify. The video streaming platform announced that podcasters will be given grants to produce videos, including filmed versions of their shows.
Individual show creators would get around $50,000, while podcast networks would get either $200,000 or $300,000.
YouTube Offers Grants to Podcasters
According to Bloomberg, YouTube is already a home for some podcasts, but it has not pursued the episodic content unlike Spotify and Apple.
However, there have been hints that things could change, such as the appointment of executive Kai Chuk to lead the podcasting strategy of the platform. In Canada, YouTube also stopped requiring paid Premium accounts to play audio in the background, according to Engadget.
This strategy is not surprising. Both Amazon and Spotify have been landing more major podcast deals, while Apple's Podcasts app is still considered the home for many popular shows.
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While YouTube's grants would not secure any exclusives, they would give creators more incentives to make podcasts available on the platform - and it will give fans more incentives to consider YouTube as a place to listen to podcasts.
YouTube Helps Creators Make Money
Aside from offering grants to podcasters to switch to YouTube, the streaming platform is looking for other ways to help creators monetize their content, interact with viewers, and generate new ideas for their channels, according to The Verge.
The new features were teased in February in a lengthy blog post by YouTube's chief product officer, Neal Mohan, and will roll out throughout 2022.
Firstly, YouTube Shorts is getting several new features and tools this year. On the creator side, YouTube says it plans to launch new video effects, editing capabilities, and the ability to reply to comments by creating a Short - just like creators do on TikTok.
Plus, YouTube plans to introduce new ways for Shorts creators to monetize their content, including by expanding avenues for branded content, bringing Super Chat to Shorts, and enabling the ability to shop from a Short.
Shopping on YouTube
Shopping is going to be released on the app worldwide. Beyond shoppable videos and Live Shopping, the company also exploring other ways to incorporate shopping into the YouTube experience.
YouTube is also introducing a couple of other features this year that will help creators generate new and fresh content. New insights will be added to YouTube Studio that the company says will help creators understand how viewers are interacting with their contact and help spark ideas for new videos.
Also, YouTube plans to roll out the ability for creators to go live together. This is expected to increase the interactivity between creators and can help solve the problem of coming up short for things to talk about with viewers.
As for the users, YouTube also plans to more widely introduce a popular Twitch feature: gifted memberships. YouTube has already started testing the previously announced feature, but Mohan said that YouTube expects to expand the capability in the next couple of months.
Also, YouTube will soon roll out an integration that will allow you to interact on your phone with the video you're watching on TV. This will work when you are logged into the same account on both devices and will allow viewers to read or write a comment and share videos from their mobile device.
Despite YouTube releasing several features to help creators make money on the platform, the requirements for monetization remains tight following Logan Paul's controversy in 2018.
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Written by Sophie Webster
