Video podcasts are having a moment: Here's how to launch a successful show on YouTube, according to

• YouTube recently hosted a virtual seminar on the basics of podcasting.
• Two employees broke down how to get started and strategies for success.
• They shared their top five tips for building a podcast audience on YouTube.

YouTube has become a staple in podcasting as video becomes more popular among listeners.

The platform wants to capitalize on this trend by helping more video podcasts to break through.

YouTube execs Stephanie Chan, strategic partner manager on the podcast team, and Emma Sweet, global product activation manager for music and podcasts, held in April a virtual seminar on the basics of YouTube podcasting and shared their top strategies for success.

"While putting your podcast on YouTube can seem like a set-it-and-forget-it process, there are actually a ton of ways to optimize your content to reach a bigger audience and leverage YouTube to its fullest potential," Chan said.

The execs said they've seen an increase in viewers for YouTube podcasts, in part because more people are watching them on TV.

"We've seen explosive growth in the living room, which allows people to watch YouTube on their TVs," Chan said, referring to overall YouTube viewership. "The living room is the fastest growing source of YouTube watch time."

Users consume podcasts on YouTube in two ways: the main YouTube app or the YouTube Music app. When a creator uploads a podcast to the YouTube Studio, the backend platform where creators can manage their channels, the podcast is made available on both platforms.

With YouTube Music, users can download podcasts, listen in the background on the go, and pick up where they left off if they started watching the video podcast on the main app and then shifted to listening on YouTube Music.

Creators in YouTube's Partner Program can make money from video podcasts through ad placements, Super Chat messages that viewers pay to share, channel memberships, and other features.

YouTube has also added features to increase the visibility and discoverability of podcasts, including a dedicated page, search cards, a playlist sidebar within search results that displays recent episodes, and a podcast tab within YouTube channel pages.

"Podcast content is different than other YouTube content," Sweet said. "For example, in serialized podcasts, users want to listen to the next episode in that playlist. So if you're consuming a series, we'll now recommend that next episode to you."

Here are five strategies they shared for launching a successful podcast on YouTube:

If your YouTube channel only features podcast episodes, Sweet recommends placing those videos into a playlist and marking the playlist as a podcast in YouTube Studio. It's the only way to signal to the platform that your video is part of a podcast.

Video creators who also have podcasts on YouTube can either create a new playlist for the podcast or set an existing playlist as a podcast.

Sweet said, however, that these playlists should only contain full podcast episodes, not clips or unrelated content.

These playlists also determine how a podcast appears in the YouTube Music app. The order of the episodes that appear in the playlist will match the order of episodes shown on YouTube Music.

YouTube Studio allows creators to track a video's performance, including metrics like traffic sources, audience demographics, audience retention, and revenue. Podcasters can use it to track analytics just like any other video.

Sweet said the team is developing more metrics for podcasts, too.

For example, YouTube recently added podcasts as a format in the "What Your Audience Watches" section of the YouTube Studio. This lets creators see other podcasts their audience listens to on YouTube.

To decide whether to start a new YouTube channel or place podcast episodes on your existing channel, consider how much audience overlap exists between the two.

"If you have a channel about cooking and your podcast is about recreating historical recipes, then keep everything on one channel and give the channel a name that reflects your broader brand and identity," Chan said. "If the overlap is lower like if you have that cooking channel but your new podcast is about film analysis, then you may want to create separate channels to better serve each distinct audience."

Think about how established your podcast is, as well. If it's new, keeping it on your original channel could help it grow. But if it already has an audience, creating a stand-alone channel would be best.

To help listeners keep up with your podcast, share your upload schedule, social links, and other podcast information in the banner at the top of your YouTube channel.

"You could say, 'new episodes every Tuesday,' or something like that," Chan said.

Chan also recommends keeping the podcast's branding, including episode titles, consistent across YouTube and other platforms.

"A channel avatar is another key branding location," Chan said. "If you are a podcasting-specific channel, we recommend you use the same branding and imagery on YouTube that you use across other podcast platforms to make it easy for people to recognize this as your official podcast."

Uploading a channel trailer also allows users to preview your podcast. Creators can show different trailers to subscribers and non-subscribers, such as a general podcast trailer for new listeners and a clip from the latest episode to subscribers.

It also helps to make your podcast name and episode titles as search-friendly as possible, including keywords and ensuring they're under 70 characters each.

"Featuring your face in the thumbnail can also help increase engagement," Chan said.

Sweet recommends posting podcast clips in addition to full episodes to help attract new audiences through YouTube shorts.

Creators can link to a podcast episode from a short to direct viewers to the full-length episode.

In YouTube Studio, creators can also make shorts directly from an uploaded long-form video in just a few steps.

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