Does this mean YouTube Podcasts is ready for prime time?

Time to get out of Google Podcasts for anyone that is still using the service.

    • lemmyvore@feddit.nlEnglish
      162·
      11 months ago

      I don’t think they have any qualms about shutting down YouTube but I think they’re afraid of the backlash. It’s such a unique treasure trove of cultural significance that is not out of the question for the US government to step in and tell them to put at least some of it in the Library of Congress or to work with other organizations to preserve it. And they’d rather let it run than be bothered.

      I’ve heard a theory that says that Google isn’t interested in any of their products for the product’s sake. They’re all data-gathering experiments. Once they’re done mining that particular kind of data they shutter the project. If they ever need to revisit that category later, they make another similar product.

      It would certainly explain why they shut down certain projects in the face of commercial success, or why they keep revisiting the messenger app over and over in different ways.

      It would also explain their inept attempts at monetizing YouTube. Keeping an experiment alive past it’s expiration date is unfamiliar to them so they have no idea what to do with it.

      • theherk@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        11 months ago

        YouTube is the app around which both Google Play Music and now Podcasts are shutting down, so I doubt YouTube will go away. I won’t be surprised, however, if other apps are incorporated in like Play Movies and Play Books even.

        Shitting down YouTube would be like shuttering Gmail or even Search. Seems unlikely.

      • Dr. Moose@lemmy.worldEnglish
        61·
        11 months ago

        Google shutting down youtube would be such a huge confidence loss that I don’t think they would ever recover. It’ll never happen unless things change drastically.

        • lemmyvore@feddit.nlEnglish
          1·
          11 months ago

          Thru could decide to incorporate it separately (which would be ironic considering it started out separate and they forced it into Google), and then let it find its own way.

    • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      11 months ago

      YouTube is too big and dominates too much of certain spaces for streaming. Shutting it down would be stupid. If Google no longer wanted it, it would make WAY more sense to sell. Someone would pay billions for that.

      Edit: also, YouTube made $8billion in ad sales last quarter. YouTube ain’t going anywhere right now.

      • selokichtli@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        Well, to be more clear, I was trying to say that YouTube could end as a business for Google. I’m not sure if YouTube is doing well right now, financially, and these whole ad management looks like a desperate move.

        • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          11 months ago

          YouTube has recently been exceeding street expectations and made $8billion in ad sales last quarter alone. Even when revenue took a 2% dip a while back, that business is still a damn cash cow.

          • selokichtli@lemmy.mlEnglish
            1·
            11 months ago

            Yeah, I still doubt it long-term. It’s become truly annoying to watch YouTube videos without workarounds/Premium these days. Their membership is also more expensive as time goes by. I guess, as long as it is a monopoly, they may keep pushing this. Maybe it’s just me, but feels tired.