Podcasts are coming to YouTube Music. The streaming music service plans to add podcasts “in the near future,” YouTube’s head of podcasting, Kai Chuk, told Ariel Shapiro at Hot Pod Summit. The addition will pit YouTube Music even more directly against Spotify, which has looked to podcasts – and big exclusives like Joe Rogan – as a way to retain users and grow its audience. “If someone wants to watch a podcast, we have a solution,” Chuk said. “If someone wants to listen to a podcast only, we should have a great experience for that as well.” YouTube Music will allow free ad-supported background listening to podcasts and offer “enhanced library tools,” Chuk said. There’ll also be a podcast badge to designate audio-first shows. YouTube hit 80 million subscribers last year for its Music and Premium services, the latter of which includes both Music and ad-free YouTube. The company isn’t currently looking at adding exclusive shows or licensed originals. Chuk and Steve McLendon, Google’s product lead for podcasting, said the goal of YouTube Music’s podcasting features was to build great tools for the people making shows.

SNAPCHAT IS ADDING AUDIO RECOMMENDATIONS AND SONG SYNCING

Snapchat users will soon have a handful of new tools to make content that includes trending songs or sounds. First, the company is introducing a sound recommendation system for Lenses, its popular augmented reality (AR) filters. Users will be able to discover which sounds other people are using with the lens they’ve applied and add popular audio to their own photos or videos. The feature is now available to US users and rolling out globally. Snapchat is also adding a feature that automatically syncs uploaded photos and videos to the beat of songs when making a montage. Users can add anywhere from four to 20 photos and videos; the feature could be helpful when making content based on trending audio or challenges. Snap has been gradually adding more tools as it tries to compete with TikTok through its shortform product Spotlight. Last fall, the company introduced Director Mode, a more advanced video editing option for creators. Though TikTok still dominates the shortform video space, Snapchat is leaning heavily into the AR filters that are now a central part of trending content across platforms, including TikTok.