TikTok Has Abandoned the Podcast Game, At Least for Now

The podcast experiment by TikTok, which debuted earlier in 2023 and went mostly unnoticed for the majority of the year, is drawing to an end. 

The social media platform recently sent out a message to beta testers of "Podcasts on TikTok" informing them that the function will no longer be available.

"We wanted to inform you that later this year, we'll be terminating the current beta test of Podcasts on TikTok," the whole letter says. 

The podcast function is going to be accessible till December 15th. 

Your TikTok videos will continue to be posted, however, podcast episode content that has been uploaded will be taken down from the platform at this point. 

Although we think there is a ton of potential in the audio domain and appreciate our podcast creators, we are currently concentrating our attention on other initiatives.

TikTok leaves the podcast game behind

"We often test out different features to get feedback from our community and acquire knowledge for platform improvement. We really appreciate your participation in this beta test and ongoing assistance. We're excited to collaborate once more in the future."

The short-form video website enabled podcasters to link their episodes to videos that viewers could play in the background while they watched other videos. 

Despite that, it had limitations, such as a maximum 90-minute episode length.

The discontinuation occurred when TikTok prepared a global debut for its new music streaming service, and YouTube continues to have enormous success in the podcasting sector.

Read more: TikTok's "Add to Music App" Feature Goes to 19 More Countries