YouTube’s podcasts now reach one billion users per month

YouTube‘s podcast library just hit a major milestone. In a post published on its official blog, the Google-affiliated platform revealed that it now reaches one billion monthly active users with its podcast content.

By pushing its podcast audience past ten digits, YouTube is adding another impressive figure for a category that has grown by leaps and bounds over the past four years. YouTube CEO Neal Mohan recently announced that his platform is “the most frequently used service for listening to podcasts in the U.S.” Popular shows range from political fare like the Lex Fridman Podcast to true crime hits like Bailey Sarian‘s Murder, Mystery and Make Up.

YouTube’s activity in the podcasting world ramped up in 2021, when Kai Chuk joined the company as its first Head of Podcasts. A flurry of internal developments and brand-facing products soon followed, with YouTube spending freely to populate its podcast shelves. Creators benefitted thanks to several lucrative initiatives, and YouTube harnessed the power of its vast distribution network to make sure its podcasting push became a success — at least from a numbers perspective.

That initiative is still going strong in 2025. YouTube’s attractive offer to podcasts has helped it recruit content from big names like Alex Cooper of Call Her Daddy

, even as the platform faces increased competition from rivals like Spotify.

“Podcasts with video are more than just a trend, they meet audiences where they are: on YouTube,” reads the blog post. “We’ve specifically developed our podcast product experience to make it easier for fans to find podcasts they love, discover new ones, and watch (or listen!) wherever they want. We’ve also added more and more podcasters into our revenue sharing program, the YouTube Partner Program.”

YouTube’s growth as a podcast distributor meshes nicely with the company’s other areas of focus. It’s currently enjoying record-setting viewership on TV screens, and a lot of that traffic is going to long-form shows. Last year, viewers consumed 400 million hours of YouTube’s podcast content on TV screens.

That stat emphasizes what makes YouTube such a strong player in the world of podcasts. The eminent platform has tons of resources and tools at its disposal, and it’s eager to use them to make shows like Call Her Daddy shine.