Before publishing video podcast episodes from Simplecast to YouTube, you need to connect your YouTube account. Once connected, you can publish episodes to one or multiple YouTube channels and playlists.
Important: Only users with the Organization Admin role can connect to YouTube and map shows to the appropriate channels and playlists.
Add an account
Prerequisite:
If your Simplecast account currently uses YouTube RSS ingestion, you must disable it before connecting your YouTube account directly.
a. Go to Show Settings → Distribution → RSS Distribution Channels and disconnect YouTube.
b. In YouTube Studio, remove the existing Simplecast RSS connection for that show.
You can then start connecting your YouTube account(s) directly to Simplecast.
1. In the upper-right corner of Simplecast, click your username, then select your account name.
2. In the left-hand navigation, click External Integrations. This page includes two tabs: Accounts and Show Mappings.
- Use the Accounts tab to connect YouTube accounts and manage playlists.
- Use the Show Mappings tab to map each Simplecast show to the corresponding YouTube channel and playlist.
On the Accounts tab:
- If you’ve already connected a YouTube account, it will appear here along with its connection status.
- If no accounts are connected, you’ll see “No accounts connected.”
3. To add a new account, click +Add Account. There are two account types you can connect:
- Individual channel (personal or brand).
- MCN/CMS Content Owner account, which includes multiple channels.
4. Click +Channel to connect an individual YouTube channel, or +Connect Owner to connect a Content Manager account.
5. Follow the Google authorization flow:
- Choose the YouTube account you want to connect.
- Sign in with your credentials.
- Click Allow to grant Simplecast access.
6. Once connected, your YouTube account will appear on the Accounts tab in Simplecast.
7. Click the arrow next to the account name to expand it and view all YouTube channels managed by that account.
8. Expand any channel to view all its playlists.
9. For each YouTube account listed in Simplecast, in the right-side menu, the following actions are available:
- Sync from YouTube – To update the account information in Simplecast if you’ve made changes directly in YouTube (e.g., renamed a channel or added new playlists).
- Remove Account – To disconnect the selected account from Simplecast.
Prepare for Show Mapping
Important: On YouTube, podcasts are represented as playlists. The Playlists section on the Accounts tab is where you’ll find your podcast shows.
Before mapping shows, make sure that only your podcast channels and corresponding playlists are enabled for mapping—not every channel/playlist on your channel. This helps prevent unrelated YouTube playlists from being linked to your Simplecast shows.
To prepare for mapping:
- Review your list of connected channels.
- On the right side of the list, toggle OFF any channels that are not related to your podcast and should not be mapped to Simplecast.
- For every connected channel you plan to map, click the arrow next to its name to expand it and review its associated playlists.
- Keep toggles ON for playlists that correspond to your Simplecast podcast shows.
- Toggle OFF any playlists that do not correspond to your Simplecast shows to prevent incorrect mappings.
Map your shows
Once your YouTube accounts are connected, you can map each Simplecast show to its corresponding YouTube channel and playlist.
- On the External Integrations page, click the Show Mapping tab. The page lists all your Simplecast shows.
- On the right side of the page, next to the show name, click the Channel field and select the YouTube channel you want to map the show to.
- Next, click the Playlist field. Select the playlist that corresponds to your show.
Tip: On YouTube, podcasts are represented as playlists. Make sure to select the playlist that corresponds to your show, not a general or unrelated playlist.
If you want to publish a show to more than one channel:
- On the right side of the show row, click the three-dot menu.
- Select Connect another channel.
- Choose the channel and playlist you want to associate with that show.
If a channel doesn’t have any playlists listed:
- Go to YouTube Studio and create a new playlist for your podcast show
- Return to Simplecast and, on the External Integrations > Accounts tab, click Sync from YouTube to refresh your playlists.
- Go back to Show Mapping and select the newly created playlist to map it to your show.
Next Step: After mapping all your shows, you’re ready to publish video podcast episodes directly to YouTube through Simplecast. [link to episode creation]