YouTube starts offering $300,000 to podcasters

Google-owned video-sharing platform YouTube has reportedly offered “grants” to podcasters to produce video versions of their shows.

YouTube has reportedly offered the ‘grants’ to compete with its contemporaries like Amazon, Apple and Spotify, according to Bloomberg. YouTube has reportedly offered individual podcasters up to $50,000, while podcast networks could receive up to $200,000 or $300,000 to make video versions of their shows.

Google has declined to comment on the issue. YouTube already hosts some podcasts, but it has now started to pursue podcasts aggressively to compete with Spotify and other (typically audio-focused) platforms.

YouTube has made changes such as appointing executive Kai Chuk to lead the podcasting strategy. In Canada, YouTube also removed the requirement of a premium membership to play audio in the background.

Spotify and Amazon have made more aggressive podcast deals and Apple’s Podcasts app is also home to many popular podcast shows. The reported provision of grants by Youtube is an effort to give incentives to creators to make their shows available on YouTube.

Earlier, YouTube had laid out goals for the year that included making the lives of creators easier and boosting shorts-a popular format that rivals TikTok.