Recently, YouTube announced some big changes to how it does things. But what does it actually mean for your podcast on YouTube?
Let’s talk about them.
What Changed on YouTube
Two big things changed on YouTube:
- YouTube announced a series of changes to the YouTube Partner Program (YPP).
- YouTube changed the way it counts views.
Why it matters: both changes affect how things are counted on YouTube, and if you’re looking to monetize your channel, that can ripple into how things are measured and paid out, whether through YouTube directly or through external efforts like sponsorships and brand deals.
..more on that later. For now, here’s a more detailed breakdown of the rolling changes.
YouTube Changes YouTube Partner Program (YPP)
Last month, YouTube announced a few notable changes coming to the YouTube Partner Program (YPP).
First, the entry requirements for the YPP are doubling. Starting February 1, 2027, in addition to 1,000 channel subscribers, new applicants will need 8,000 qualified watch hours in the past 12 months or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. Again, that’s double the old bar (4,000 hours or 10 million Shorts views). Some good news for creators: this applies only to new entrants. If you’re already an approved YPP member, nothing changes for you.
Next, Premium Lite is rolling out everywhere. YouTube’s lower-priced, ad-adjacent subscription tier is expanding to every market where Premium is offered. For creators, this means a bigger pool of potential paying subscribers, and subscriber revenue tends to outperform ad revenue on a per-viewer basis. This is passive upside, no extra work required from you (other than making great content that drives subscriptions, of course 🙂 ).
The final change comes from YouTube Shorts revenue sharing. Previously, Shorts revenue sharing was available to any channel in the YPP, with no minimum view requirement. Now, again starting February 1st, creators must maintain 10 million qualified Shorts views in a given 90-day period to earn. Fortunately, if you fall below the 10 million threshold, you are not permanently cut off from revenue sharing. You can still continue earning on your long-form content or be readmitted to Shorts revenue sharing if/when you re-cross 10 million Shorts views.
The ‘So What’ of YPP Changes
For many creators, the biggest change is arguably the heightened stakes for entering YPP in the first place. But for those who are already in, or able to crack the code and clear the new threshold, this actually looks like more opportunity to earn. Think more subscriber revenue flowing in through Premium Lite, and a Shorts model that rewards creators who stick around and keep the engagement coming, rather than one lucky viral clip.
For creators, the big takeaway is the same as it’s always been: keep posting content that drives real action, whether that’s views, engagement, or subscriptions, and stick with it. While the bar to entry is higher, the reward appears to be greater.
YouTube Streamlines How Views Are Counted
Separate from the YPP updates, YouTube also announced a change to how it counts views, which went into effect on August 24.
Now, YouTube counts a public “view” the instant a video starts playing, from the very first frame. And while there was no official published definition of what counts as a view, it was widely accepted that a video needed about 30 seconds of play to count as a view. However, whatever that threshold was is now gone.
Why the change? According to YouTube, the new view count unifies how views are counted across the platform, bringing long-form video and livestream views in line with how YouTube Shorts are counted (at first-frame play). It also, interestingly enough, unites how views are counted across platforms. Think Instagram and TikTok, which also count views on the first frame.
YouTube also expressed that changes in views do not change how you get paid. While changes to the YPP were made, creators will continue earning based on“Engaged Shorts views” and “Engaged Watch Hours. Both metrics are available in YouTube Studio’s advanced analytics.
The ‘So What’ of View Count Changes
As a creator, you can probably expect an uptick in your view counts pretty soon, if you haven’t noticed one already. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s worth being honest with yourself about what it actually means.
Historically, views were the go-to shorthand for “is this working?” Now, someone tapping your thumbnail or hovering over your video in the feed counts as a view, which means the number alone is telling you a little less than it used to.
And especially if you’re a podcaster trying to grow on YouTube, this is worth keeping an eye on. Your view count might jump right around the time you’re testing a new format, thumbnail, or clip strategy, which can make it tricky to tell what’s actually working and what’s just the new counting method doing its thing. Rather than leaning too hard on that top-line number, lean into engagement metrics instead: engaged views, likes, comments, and subscriber growth.
Engagement-based metrics will be stronger if you’re trying to understand channel and content performance (and growth). Those still paint a better picture of whether your content is landing and reaching the right audience.
While the bigger number under your video is exciting to see, for now, it’s just a bigger number.
So, How Do You Grow a Podcast on YouTube?
Whew, okay, updates out of the way. While knowing all of this is great, it doesn’t necessarily help you actually grow your podcast on YouTube.
Quickly, we do want to say: if you are on YouTube and have been getting growth signals for some time, you don’t necessarily need to change what you’re already doing. If you have a workflow that works for you and you’re growing, awesome! Keep it up. But if you’re new to YouTube or have been trying to grow a podcast on YouTube to no avail so far, what can you do?
The rest of this blog will dive into just that. We’ll walk you all the way through the basics of starting a podcast on YouTube and through some of the more advanced (in a non-intimidating way) aspects of growing a podcast on YouTube.
Baby Steps First: Getting a Podcast on YouTube
First, if you want to get your podcast on YouTube, you’ll ultimately need to decide how to do that. Obviously, when you think about YouTube, you’re probably thinking about video. But especially for podcasters, an audio-first medium historically, it doesn’t mean you have to go full-on Mr. Beast.
Check out our full guide to podcasting on YouTube here to learn about your different options (in podcast form…on YouTube!).
Okay, now that you’ve figured out HOW you’re going to get your podcast on YouTube, you’ll need to make a Podcast Playlist. This is the single easiest way to tell YouTube, “Hey, I’m a podcast!”
A dedicated Podcast Playlist helps organize your channel, provides context to YouTube’s algorithm, and helps classify your content more effectively. This is especially important if you’re thinking about long-term search and even brand-lift benefits, if you’re a branded podcast, or if you use a podcast to help grow your business (outside of the RSS).
Here’s a quick and easy guide to starting a podcast on YouTube straight from the source.
Tools for Podcast Discovery and Growth on YouTube
Outside of getting your podcast on YouTube, there are a lot of general optimization things you can do to help improve your YouTube uploads (even if it’s not a podcast). Here they are, rapid fire.
Rename Your Files
YouTube can’t watch your video, but it can read your file name. “Untitled_47382.mp4” tells YouTube nothing. “How_to_Start_a_Podcast_on_YouTube.mp4” tells YouTube (and search engines) exactly what they’re looking at before a single frame plays. It takes thirty seconds, and it’s one of the most overlooked SEO wins available to you
Add Thumbnails
Your thumbnail is doing a lot of work before anyone hits play. It sets expectations, builds brand recognition, and drives click-through rate, which is a direct signal to YouTube that your content is worth recommending again and again. Especially with view counts changing, a strong thumbnail can help get eyes past that first frame.
Front-Load Your Hook
With views now counted from the first frame, the first few seconds are even more important for a video’s performance. By front-loading your hook, you’re making those first few seconds more engaging and clearly communicating to the viewer/listener why they should stay.
And, we totally hear you, podcasters, no, that does not mean you have to rethink how you podcast. Front-loading your hook could be achieved with a few quick edits or even an additional take once your full episode is done. While we understand it adds more work, it could very well be the thing that helps get people past the first frame and stick around, which helps your podcast grow on YouTube.
Add Chapters and Timestamps
Chapters do more than make your video tidy. They hand YouTube structured, searchable text about what happens in your episode, another entry point for discovery, and let a viewer jump straight to the segment they actually came for, instead of bouncing to whatever the algorithm suggests next. One works in your favor on discovery, the other on retention.
Caption EVERYTHING
Please, please. Add captions.
Captions are a powerful tool for discovery and engagement. In a recent survey, we actually found that podcasters who add captions to their videos (and measured their impact) saw better metrics:
- 63% reported higher view counts (pre-August change)
- 55% saw more impressions
- 46% saw higher watch time
- 41% saw more engagement
And especially if you’re uploading captions via transcript in YouTube Studio, captions pull double duty, helping to drive discovery. Captions not only make things look nicer and aid accessibility but also provide indexable, word-for-word accounts of everything said in a video. That is a HUGE amount of data you’re serving up to YouTube and search at large…so, that’s triple duty actually.
Lean into YouTube Shorts
Shorts are an easy way to widen your discovery net. They get tested against fresh audiences fast, and if they land, they spread fast too.
Batch-cutting multiple Shorts from every episode, rather than posting one and hoping, is what actually gets you toward that threshold. Grab your episode URL and a clipping tool (hi, that’s us) and knock out a handful in one sitting instead of agonizing over a single perfect clip.
Add Keywords
Add one to three relevant keywords across your titles, descriptions, and file names. Free tools like Google’s Keyword Planner can show you what people are actually searching for.
If you’re not sure what’s buried in your own transcript, tools like Eddy by Headliner can pull up to 20 relevant keywords straight from it, no guesswork required.
Show Up Consistently
This one’s the least exciting, most reliable lever of all. In our survey, 83% of podcasters who upload to YouTube said they do it for every single episode. Consistency compounds in a way that’s easy to underrate. It trains the algorithm on your content, and it trains your audience on when to come back. Engagement matters here too, in the plain sense of actually engaging: YouTube’s recommendation system leans heavily on signals like comments and replies, not just subscriber count or channel reputation, which is part of why smaller channels can still break through.
Look at Your Data
Finally, if you want to grow a podcast on YouTube, looking at your data is one of the best things you can do. Going into YouTube Studio and looking at things like engaged views, watch time, traffic sources, and subscriber growth helps you identify trends that can better inform how you create and who you create for. Not necessarily changing your show or what you do, just helping you refine, learn, and improve over time.
Should YouTube Updates Change Your Podcast? (TL;DR, No)
Now for the burning questions: Should YouTube’s updates change my podcast? How will my show and channel be affected?
The great news is that, aside from higher view counts, there will likely be no change in your channel’s and podcast’s performance on YouTube. In the short term, you can expect to see a spike in average view counts, but as the new view count system matures, things will most likely start to level back out to a new baseline.
The long-term strategy for growing a podcast on YouTube largely stays the same. Make quality content that resonates with your audience and gives them a reason to tune in and stick with the podcast.
The latter half of the blog highlights just a few of the many tools at your disposal. Tools such as YouTube video captions, podcast clip creation (YouTube Shorts), and keyword research are just that, tools to help you grow and reach new audience. They’ll help with podcast discovery, but ultimately, it’s you and your unique story that make people stay.
Interested in tools to help grow your podcast? Give Headliner a try! Headliner helps caption videos for YouTube, transcribe podcast videos, create clips for YouTube Shorts, and more. Visit https://make.headliner.app to get started.
This blog was written by a human at Headliner and was edited with the help of AI.
