I can only chuckle when I read things like this. There was another post on the homepage today talking about how podcasts in general are still growing in popularity. But Google fumbled the bag yet again!
There is SO much overlap between YouTube Music videos and listening to music. There is also overlap between YouTube podcasts and listening to podcasts.
Trying to align here makes a lot of sense. Tricky to pull off, sure, but it's not a dropped ball.
It's just another example of Google failing to even keep their options open to take advantage of future developments. "Serial" would make podcasts mainstream just a year or so later.