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Meta abandoned its podcast feature in 2022, but bringing it back with in-app optimization and a dedicated app could solve major promotion challenges for podcasters.
Meta abandoned its podcast feature in 2022, but bringing it back with in-app optimization and a dedicated app could solve major promotion challenges for podcasters.
Alright, so you'd be forgiven if you forgot about this — or maybe you never even knew it was a thing. Honestly, I think this was only a test within the U.S.
But Facebook launched Facebook Podcasts in 2021. And honestly, I would have thought this was from 2017 or something. But I went back and looked at my old blog posts, and yeah, I covered this in 2021.
If you don’t remember how it worked, Facebook Pages had a podcast section. I did this with my own podcast on my page.
All you had to do was connect the RSS feed of your podcast — after verifying ownership — to your Facebook Page. Then, new episodes would automatically publish to your page.
Honestly, that’s a lot like what we see with YouTube podcasts and most other platforms that distribute podcasts across multiple locations.
On Facebook, the podcast episode wasn’t just published to the podcast section of your page — it was also pushed to your followers' feeds. It appeared like a video, directly in the feed, just like a Facebook video.
So, it was in-app — listeners didn’t have to click away. They could play it just like a video, right within Facebook.
Which was awesome.
Unfortunately, it never caught on. For whatever reason, Meta shut it down 10 months later, in 2022.
Looking back, that was likely because of Meta’s shifting focus. I can’t recall if they were already focused on short-form video at that point, but they were certainly about to be. It makes sense that short-form video took priority over podcasts.
But the thing is — this had so much potential, especially for podcasters and advertisers.
I’m reminded of this now because I’m bringing my podcast back, and advertising podcasts is a huge challenge.
You have to send people off Facebook and Instagram, which is already a challenge. But on top of that, you’re not optimizing for a typical conversion.
You can — but that’s a whole separate topic. That’s what I’m trying to do now, but it’s not easy.
Otherwise, you’re optimizing for link clicks, landing page views, or something similar.
Even if you send people to your website and optimize for a conversion — like I’m doing, by tracking custom events for:
That’s still an extra step. You’re asking people to go to your website before they take the actual action you want.
Before, with Facebook Podcasts, they could do it in-app.
Meta could have done so much more with this, and that’s what really bothers me.
From an advertising perspective — again, this was in-app.
You could have optimized for subscribers, for plays — maybe even engaged plays, like someone listening for 60+ seconds. That would have been fantastic.
It would have been a lot like promoting video content — something advertisers already understand.
There’s a huge hole in podcast promotion that this could have filled.
Now, maybe the original approach to Facebook Podcasts was flawed. That’s totally possible.
Also, there was a lot of noise on Facebook — videos, links, podcasts, all competing for attention. It probably didn’t fit within the larger ecosystem.
Another issue? There was no central discovery hub — like Facebook Video has. That would have been huge for podcasters.
But Meta could still bring this back — with improvements.
For example, what if they launched a separate Meta Podcasts app?
I know, I know — another app is the last thing we need. But if they did it, it would still benefit from being part of Meta’s family of apps—just like Instagram, Threads, Messenger, and WhatsApp.
If you could share podcast episodes directly to Facebook and Instagram, play them in-app, and have cross-promotion by Meta (like how they already auto-post between apps)... that would be huge.
And of course — ads.
Not only could you promote your podcast and episodes, but there could be ads within the Meta Podcasts app itself.
Now, I know this all sounds kind of crazy. And admittedly, maybe I’m only thinking about it because I’m trying to grow my own podcast.
Maybe this isn’t a real need. Maybe it’s just my limited point of view.
Maybe users hated the original version and wouldn’t want a separate app.
But I know growing a podcast is really hard, and Meta has a unique advantage that could help podcasters—and they could make money in the process.
Meta could fill that void.
What do you think? I’d love to hear your opinion—drop me a line at me@jonloomer.com.
Oh yeah—I’m trying to grow this thing, so if you’re enjoying the podcast, do me a favor: subscribe, rate, review—do all the things.
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