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YouTube is still gearing up for a big podcast push. After hiring an executive in charge of podcasting last year, Youtube . com is now offering cash to popular podcasts that are willing to make the jump in order to video.
Bloomberg is reporting that YouTube’s content push works out to “offers of $50, 000 to individual shows and $200, 000 and $300, 000 to podcast networks. ” The report says these “grants” are meant to help with the high start-up costs of producing video, which requires cameras, lighting, a studio, plus a lot of other equipment you don’t need to just do audio.
We still don’t know the extent of YouTube’s podcasting plans. The particular project sounds like another instance of YouTube developing a specific content vertical with a specialized interface and custom branding. We’ve already seen this play out when YouTube’s plethora of gaming content led to YouTube Gaming, when all the company’s music deals created YouTube Music, in addition to when kids’ content got a “YouTube Kids” vertical. If podcasting follows a similar playbook, expect the “YouTube Podcasts” app and website, or at least a special section in the Music app.
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