To start a podcast on YouTube, open YouTube Studio and choose Create, then New podcast. YouTube treats a podcast as a playlist and each episode as a video inside it, so you then either upload video episodes into that playlist or submit your existing RSS feed, in which case YouTube turns each audio episode into a still-image video made from your show art and keeps adding new episodes as they appear in the feed.
Podcasts that YouTube accepts can also appear in YouTube Music. The steps and rules below come from YouTube Help and the YouTube Official Blog as read on 1 October 2026. Joining the YouTube Partner Program is a separate question, covered in the YouTube monetization requirements guide, and growing the channel around the show is covered in the guide to growing a YouTube channel.
How YouTube decides what counts as a podcast
YouTube's create a podcast page sets the house rules. The playlist should hold only full-length episodes, in the order they should be heard, with every season in the same podcast rather than split up. Clips, Shorts and other shows belong in separate playlists without podcast features. The title should be your show's real name with nothing added, not even the word “podcast” unless it is part of the name, and vague titles such as “Full Episodes” get replaced with your channel name in YouTube Music.
- Eligible podcasts can appear in YouTube Music, where most podcast content can be played in the background and downloaded without a Premium membership.
- They can carry podcast badges, be featured on youtube.com/podcasts and be recommended to new listeners.
- Podcast videos are available for audio-only playback; to switch that off for a video, you have to remove it from every podcast.
- Designating a playlist as a podcast does not guarantee the features. Content the creator does not own is one stated reason a playlist can be ineligible, and Shorts never appear in YouTube Music.
RSS feed or video upload: decision table
| Question | RSS ingestion | Video upload |
|---|---|---|
| What viewers see | Your show art as a still image over the audio | Whatever you filmed and edited |
| Ongoing effort | New feed episodes upload themselves | Each episode is edited and uploaded by hand |
| Where it works | Only for channels located in YouTube's listed countries and regions | Anywhere you can upload to YouTube |
| Access you need | Advanced features, through channel history or ID verification | Intermediate features, unlocked by phone verification, to create the podcast |
| Fixing an episode's audio | Re-upload from the feed creates a new video and makes the old one private | Upload a corrected video |
| Show title and description | Edited in Studio; later changes in the feed are not picked up | Edited in Studio |
| Reuse elsewhere | A still-image file does not count as video on Apple Podcasts | Real footage can also serve Spotify and Apple video |
The access rows come from YouTube's feature access page, which places podcast creation among intermediate features and RSS upload among advanced ones. The reuse row reflects Apple's content guidelines, which send episodes made mostly of static images or audio visualizers to the audio feed. Some shows combine the two: the feed keeps every episode on YouTube automatically, while a filmed flagship episode goes up as a normal video in the same playlist.
RSS connection checklist
- Check that the channel owner's location appears on YouTube's RSS availability list; the United States, the UK, Australia and Canada were all on it.
- Confirm advanced feature access, or be ready to verify your identity during setup.
- In Studio, choose Create, New podcast, then Submit RSS feed, and accept the RSS Ingestion Tool Terms of Service.
- Enter the feed URL, send the verification code, and type in the code that arrives at the feed's email address. If you do not know that address, your host does.
- Pick which episodes to bring over: all existing ones, those since a chosen date, or only future episodes. If some episodes are already on YouTube, start after the newest of them to avoid duplicates.
- Tick the option saying most episodes contain branded content if your show carries sponsor reads.
- Save, then wait. YouTube's publishing guide says uploading can take a few days and emails you when the podcast is ready.
- While the videos are still private, look through them for copyright or monetization flags; the guide to copyright claims versus strikes explains what each warning means.
- Press Publish next to the podcast in the Video count column; nothing goes public before you do.
- Choose a default RSS video visibility of Private, Unlisted or Public for future episodes.
- Add a square podcast thumbnail and correct the podcast title or description if the feed delivered them wrongly.
- To hide an episode later, set it to private instead of deleting it, because a deleted video is uploaded again while the episode remains in your feed.
One trap catches tidy-minded producers. YouTube's publishing guide warns that once you edit an episode's details in Studio, it blocks future edits to that episode from your feed, so make episode corrections at the host whenever you can.
Problems after the feed is connected
The questions section of YouTube's RSS delivery page answers most of the confusion that follows a first import. The common cases:
| What you see | Why it happens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Old episodes at the top of the Videos tab | That tab sorts by YouTube upload date, not your release date | Point people to the podcast playlist, which sorts by the feed's release date |
| Different dates on different screens | YouTube shows the feed's release date in some places and its own publish date in others, and does not verify the feed date | Keep release dates accurate at your host |
| Subscribers were not told about the back catalog | YouTube does not notify subscribers when older episodes arrive through the feed | Announce the archive yourself with a post or a short |
| Replaced audio still plays the old version | Audio in an ingested video cannot change after publishing | Use Re-upload from RSS feed on that episode |
| A new show description never appeared | Show details are not updated automatically from the feed | Edit the podcast details in Studio |
| You want to stop automatic uploads | The feed stays connected until you remove it | Use Disconnect on the podcast details page, which stops new uploads |
The video upload route
In Studio, create a new podcast or add podcast features to an existing playlist, then upload new videos or add ones already on your channel. Sort the playlist newest first for an episodic show or oldest first for a serial one. YouTube's podcast setup page recommends 1280 x 1280 pixels for the square podcast thumbnail, and every episode still needs its own horizontal thumbnail; the podcast artwork spec guide lists both sizes. If you have no feed and no footage, YouTube's podcast distribution FAQ suggests a third-party tool that turns audio into a static-image or audiogram video.
Add chapters by writing timestamps into the description, which YouTube's podcast content guide treats as essential for long episodes. Export settings for filmed shows are covered in the podcast equipment checklist.
Ads, sponsor reads and disclosure on YouTube
This is where audio-first shows can trip up, because two YouTube pages need reading together. The RSS delivery page says podcast content uploaded to YouTube cannot contain advertisements, and that host-read promotions, sponsorships and endorsements must be declared. The embedded sponsorship policy explains the line: creators cannot include third-party ads where YouTube offers a comparable format, such as pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll video ads or bumpers, but may include paid product placements and endorsements that follow the advertising policies and the law.
- A sponsorship you read yourself, inside the conversation, is the kind of paid endorsement the policy allows, provided you declare it with the paid promotion setting, which adds a disclosure label at the start of the video.
- A pre-recorded advert dropped into a break, the audio equivalent of a pre-roll or mid-roll, is much closer to what the policy prohibits.
- The paid promotion setting can also apply age and country restrictions to branded content.
- The label does not replace disclosure in the audio itself, which advertising law in your country may require.
If your host inserts ads dynamically, check whether it can deliver a clean feed to YouTube, and ask it before you connect the feed.
Visibility, view counts and where results show up
After you publish an RSS podcast, new episodes go public automatically unless you changed the default visibility, so set it before the first new episode lands. Counting changed recently too. The YouTube Official Blog's explainer on engaged views says that from August 24, 2026, views on every format, podcasts included, count from the first frame, while the older definition, a click to watch or viewing past the first few seconds, is now called an engaged view and still anchors most analytics and how views qualify for earning. Podcast-specific reports sit under Analytics, in the Overview tab's podcast card, covering views, watch time, traffic sources, audience and retention; the podcast analytics guide lines those figures up against Apple and Spotify.
Limitations
YouTube's podcast tools change often and some features roll out by country, so treat this as a snapshot and check the linked help pages before you rely on a step. Being designated a podcast does not guarantee placement in YouTube Music or on youtube.com/podcasts, and nothing here predicts how many people will find the show. The difference between a declared endorsement and a prohibited embedded ad can turn on the details of a sponsorship contract; if a deal is unclear, ask the sponsor and, where money is significant, a lawyer. For the full multi-directory launch order, see the podcast launch checklist.