Turn Your YouTube Videos Into a Podcast (Without Starting From Scratch)

 

If you make videos for YouTube, you've probably felt this pain before. You write the script, film it, edit it, upload it with a great thumbnail and title, and then... nothing. The algorithm just doesn't pick it up.

This video comes to us from our friends at RSS.com, and it tackles exactly that problem. Host Joe Casabona walks through how creators can take content they've already made and give it a second life as a podcast, all without extra filming or scripting.

Why Bother Turning Videos Into a Podcast?

YouTube is a great platform. It's the second biggest search engine out there and it's fantastic for long videos. But relying on one platform is risky. Accounts get shadowbanned. Videos get demonetized for no clear reason. Some creators even get locked out of their channels entirely.

Podcasting spreads that risk around. When your show lives on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other apps too, you're not putting all your eggs in one basket.

There's also a simple truth here: not every video needs to be watched. If your content is a conversation, an interview, or an explainer that doesn't lean on visuals, people can get just as much out of listening as they would from watching. And plenty of people prefer to listen. Driving, working out, doing chores around the house: these are all moments when audio just makes more sense than video.

You're Already Doing the Hard Part

Here's the good news. If you're already recording long-form talks, interviews, or explainer videos, you've done the heavy lifting. Writing the outline, recording it, and editing it so it flows well? That's the hard part, and it's already done.

You might want to tweak a few small habits going forward. Try to avoid phrases like "as you can see here" or "look over on the screen," since those don't mean much to someone who's just listening. That said, plenty of well-known podcasts still reference visuals from time to time and it doesn't hurt them one bit. Don't stress over getting this perfect.

Step One: Create a Podcast Playlist on YouTube

This part costs nothing and takes just a few minutes. From your YouTube dashboard, go to Create, then choose New Podcast. You can start a brand new podcast, turn an existing playlist into one, or submit an RSS feed if you already have one.

Add your title, description, and a thumbnail. Keep the thumbnail between 1400x1400 and 3000x3000 pixels since that's the size Apple Podcasts and Spotify expect.

Once your podcast playlist exists, you can add videos to it just like any other YouTube playlist. This signals to YouTube that your content is a podcast, and it'll start showing up that way in YouTube Music and similar spots.

Step Two: Get Your Audio Out Into the World

Here's the catch with the YouTube playlist trick: it only reaches people on YouTube. YouTube doesn't send your show out to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other app on its own. You still need a way to distribute the audio everywhere else.

Start by pulling the audio out of your video files. Most editing software lets you export audio only with just a couple of clicks. Once you've got your audio files ready, sign up for a podcast host, like RSS.com, and upload them there. From that point, your host takes care of getting your show onto every major podcast app.

RSS.com's free plan includes unlimited episodes, unlimited audio, a public RSS feed, some basic analytics, and the ability to get your show onto platforms beyond YouTube.

A Format With Real Upside

Turning your videos into a podcast doesn't just protect you if YouTube has a bad day. It opens up new ways to make money too, things like dynamically inserted ads, Apple Podcasts subscriptions for paying members, and affiliate partnerships. None of that is available to you if your content only lives on YouTube.

Ready to start your podcast? You can do it for free at rss.com.

This is an affiliate link, which gives Podcast Idea Lab a small commission at no additional cost to you should you choose to purchase a paid plan. Thanks for your support.