Google Podcasts is an app which works across iOS, Android, and on the web, allowing you to listen to podcasts and interact with them using the Google Assistant (voice) too.

Google's player built into Android devices, with no download necessary. It makes listening to podcasts a lot easier on Android (75% of the world's smartphone users). 

Unlike other podcast apps which require you to submit your podcast for inclusion in their catalog, Google indexes your show for their collection—much like it indexes search results on the web. Acast ensures all podcasts are formatted correctly so your podcast will be automatically added to Google Podcasts after Google has "crawled" your feed. You don't need to do anything at all—this happens automatically 😄

It typically takes a few weeks or so after being available on other platforms, like Apple Podcasts, for your show to be indexed and searchable on Google Podcasts. However, you can add a Google Podcasts subscribe button to your Acast website as soon as you'd like, and it will direct listeners to the correct location on Google Podcasts.

In addition, Google has recently made it possible for podcasters to submit their shows directly to Google to be added to Google Podcasts and to track analytics from plays on Google. 👏 You can submit your show here: https://podcastsmanager.google.com/

Google Podcasts is different from Google Play Music, a service which is now discontinued.

Google News Briefing has a different submission process to Google Podcasts, read more about it here.