Radio and podcast network Freakonomics has announced a new partnership with YouTube to publish its line of podcasts on the video and listening platform.
Archived episodes from the network’s podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, No Stupid Questions, People I (Mostly) Admire and Freakonomics, M.D. are now available to listen to on the Freakonomics Radio Network YouTube channel. New episodes will also be coming out weekly on the platform.
“YouTube is the biggest and best audience in the world for user-generated media,” said Freakonomics Radio founder and host Stephen Dubner. “I can’t wait to show them what we’ve been making.”
The network also said that it is planning to experiment with more podcast and video content, including short-form and long-form video as well as animation. Using YouTube’s technology, the network will also benefit from real-time caption and translation tools for its podcast episodes, as well as further exposure to YouTube’s global audience.
“One of the challenges for podcasting has been discoverability, and Google and YouTube have been leaders in search for years now,” said Freakonomics Radio executive vice president and general manager Neal Carruth. “We can’t wait to see this strength in search help get our shows in front of new audiences.”
YouTube was named as the most-preferred podcast platform, ahead of podcast giants Spotify and Apple Podcasts, in Luminate’s Podcast 360 report, with 78% of 3,000 podcast listener survey respondents based in the US saying that they’ve used the free version of the platform to consume a podcast.
Further investments made by YouTube in the podcasting space include a recent data integration partnership with podcast company Libsyn’s advertising marketplace, AdvertiseCast, to share video podcasting download insights to the platform.
“YouTube is one of the most popular platforms for podcasts,” said YouTube senior partner manager Stephanie Chan. “With over 2 billion monthly logged-in users, YouTube can provide access to a vast global audience. We are very excited to partner with the Freakonomics team to expand the reach of their storytelling and look forward to deepening our relationship in the future.”
