YouTube podcast consumption: 700 million hours on TV

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Bloomberg's Ashley Carman reports a new number from YouTube's Steve McLendon, in a paid article: People watched 700 million hours of YouTube Podcasts on TV in October. It's claimed that this is "nearly double the amount of time a year ago", and it's "the new late-night TV". (In YouTube, a podcast is called a podcast if it's marked as such by the creator).

It's a big number, so let's put it in context: in February this year, YouTube claimed over 1 billion hours of YouTube content is streamed on TVs every day (a figure from December 2024). 700 million hours a month means podcasts represent, at most, 2.3% of all TV streaming on YouTube. (Podcasts are 20% of all ad-funded audio). In the first half of 2025, Squid Game season 2 was globally watched for 840 million hours on Netflix - that's 140 million hours a month, or "a fifth of all YouTube TV streaming of podcasting". As for being the new late-night TV? Kimmel, Colbert, Fallon and The Daily Show in total attracted an average of 6.7 million viewers on broadcast TV in 2024, with 621 new episodes. That works out as 173 million hours each month (we're assuming that viewers stay for half an hour). But YouTube's 700 million is global at all hours of the day and night, and late night's 173 million is just the US. Acast has acquired German content producer Wake Word Studios. The company will be rebranded Acast Creative Studios. The company makes fifty shows with more than two million monthly listens; and a media planning platform, Podius, which will continue to be run independently. iHeartMedia has extended its relationship with Charlamagne The God, the host of Power 105's breakfast show in New York, and the popular The Breakfast Club podcast. (Just as well - the show's part of the Netflix/iHeart deal).

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