How to submit a podcast to YouTube, two routes

To submit a podcast to YouTube, you have two routes. Create the podcast inside YouTube Studio and upload videos to it, or connect your existing RSS feed and let YouTube build a video for each episode. YouTube treats a podcast as a playlist, so either route ends with a playlist marked as a podcast and episodes sitting inside it as videos.

YouTube's distribute podcasts documentation states the model directly: a podcast is a playlist, and podcast episodes are videos within that playlist. That is why there is no separate podcast submission form to fill in.

Route one: create the podcast in YouTube Studio

Use this if you upload video or audio to YouTube yourself.

1. Open YouTube Studio, select Create, then New podcast.
2. Choose Create a new podcast, or Set an existing playlist as a podcast if the episodes are already on your channel.
3. Enter the podcast title, description and visibility (Public or Private).
4. Add a square podcast thumbnail. YouTube recommends 1280x1280 pixels.
5. Click Create.

To convert a playlist you already have, YouTube's create a podcast documentation has you go to Content and then Playlists in YouTube Studio, hover the playlist, and choose Set as podcast from the menu.

Keep the playlist to full-length episodes in the order people should hear them. YouTube's podcast discovery tips also tell you not to pad the title with extra words, including the word "podcast" unless it is part of your show's name.

Route two: connect your RSS feed

Use this if your audio is hosted with Buzzsprout, Transistor, Megaphone, Captivate or any other host and you do not want to upload each episode by hand.

1. Open YouTube Studio and select Content, then Podcasts.
2. Hover over the podcast you want to edit and click Details.
3. On the Podcast details page, under RSS settings, click Connect to RSS feed.
4. Enter your feed URL.
5. Choose which episodes to upload: all existing episodes, episodes published since a specific date, or only future episodes.
6. Check the email address published in your RSS feed, enter the verification code from that email, and click Verify.
7. Wait for the upload. YouTube's RSS delivery documentation says it may take a few days, and you get an email when it is done.
8. Go back to Podcasts in YouTube Studio and click Publish.

YouTube states that your podcast will not be published until you complete the publishing steps, so a finished upload and a live podcast are two different states. The completion email refers to the upload, not to publication.

YouTube also notes that RSS ingestion is available in select countries and regions. Check availability for your channel's country before you plan around this route.

What RSS ingestion actually produces

YouTube builds a video for each episode you select, using your show art as a static image. Those videos behave like any other upload on your channel, which changes what you can fix later.

Editing an episode title in YouTube Studio permanently ends feed sync for that episode, so do your title fixes at the host and let the feed carry them. If you re-record audio after publishing, the only fix on YouTube is a new video.

Eligibility is not automatic

YouTube says some playlists are not eligible for podcast features even after you designate them as podcasts, and names content the creator does not own as an example. Copyright problems can also disqualify content from podcast features.

Eligible podcasts can appear in YouTube Music, where listeners can background and download most podcast content without a YouTube Music Premium membership. YouTube also notes that Shorts made to support your podcast will not appear in YouTube Music, so clips are a discovery tool on YouTube itself rather than part of the show in Music.

How to read YouTube's numbers afterwards

YouTube Studio reports impressions, click-through rate, views, traffic sources and watch time for podcast content, plus audience demographics. A view is counted under YouTube's own rules inside YouTube, while a download is a request for an audio file served by your host, so keep the two on separate lines and never add them into one audience figure.

Watch time is the figure worth building a habit around, because it is the one YouTube metric with no equivalent in host reporting. A host can tell you the file was delivered; only YouTube can tell you people stopped at minute nine. Our YouTube podcast charts explainer covers how YouTube ranks podcast content, how to rank on YouTube charts covers the practical side, and what is a podcast download? defines the host-side number you should not confuse with a view.

For delivery across every app in one place, that comes from a tracking prefix on your host rather than from a platform dashboard. Our how to track podcast analytics guide covers how platform reporting and prefix reporting sit together.

Start tracking your show with Podder and keep your YouTube views and your audio downloads in columns you can actually defend.