By adding your podcast RSS feed to YouTube, you can get your show in front of an even bigger audience. Questions about submitting your RSS feed to YouTube? We’ve got you covered!

Do I need a YouTube account to add my podcast RSS feed?

Yes - the RSS ingestion tool is inside your YouTube Studio dashboard, so you do need a YouTube account in order to add your RSS feed.

How do I add my podcast RSS feed to YouTube?

Adding your RSS feed is super simple:

Does it pull all my episodes in?

That’s entirely up to you! You can either add all, or only the ones published after a certain date.

Are my episodes on YouTube immediately?

No - when you add your RSS feed, YouTube will start ingesting the episodes. Depending on how many there are, this could take a while. Once complete, you can check everything looks good, and if you’re happy then you can click Publish and the episodes will go onto YouTube.

How are my episodes displayed?

YouTube will create a video for the episode, using the default show artwork (or episode artwork, if you use that feature). This video will be a static video, with the artwork displayed on-screen and the audio playing behind it.

Can I change my artwork just for YouTube?

Yes indeed! Simply edit the episode on YouTube, upload the new artwork, and save your changes.

Note: if viewing/listening on a YouTube playlist, the individual episode art won't be displayed, just the overall show artwork.

If I make changes to my show (title, description, etc), does YouTube pull in the changes automatically?

No, you’ll need to log in to YouTube Studio, and use the refresh feed button to pull in the changes.

What about episodes - if I change my episode audio, do I also need to refresh separately on YouTube?

Yes. Additionally, the previous episode will be set to Private on YouTube, and a new one created that reflects the changes.

Does the same thing happen when I add dynamic content with AMIE, or change sponsor messages?

Yes - you’ll need to manually refresh on YouTube, and the previous video on YouTube will be set to private, and a new one with the changes will take its place.

If I make a change to an episode on YouTube, does this update my RSS feed?

No - any changes you make on YouTube are only for YouTube.

Speaking of dynamic content, how do ads in my podcast work on YouTube?

YouTube doesn’t allow ads in podcasts, so you’d need to remove them first. However, this is just for ads where they’re added automatically - if it’s a host-read sponsor message, you can include those, but you will need to enable the “This content contains paid promotion” disclaimer on YouTube.

Will I see my YouTube analytics in my Captivate dashboard?

Not at the moment, since YouTube re-hosts your audio files in order to create a video with a static image. This means any analytics are kept within YouTube - you can access them via the Creator Studio.

Can I add a GIF or video on loop instead of a static image for my episode artwork?

At the moment, YouTube doesn’t support this.

I’m getting an error submitting my RSS feed, saying I need an email on my feed?

By default, Captivate hides your email address to stop spammers scraping your feed and emailing you. You can unhide your email for 24 hours in your Podcast Settings.

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