Daily current affairs podcast Newscast was the most listened to podcast on BBC Sounds this festive period, according to a new report.
The report by BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer looked at the numbers that programmes on both platforms achieved, which were at a record high, from 20 December to 2 January.
“Over the festive season, audiences chose the BBC in record breaking numbers on BBC iPlayer and Sounds for our world class content signalling a brilliant start to 2023 on the BBC,” said BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore.
Following Newscast in the list is You’re Dead To Me with Greg Jenner, the podcast that pairs comedians and historians together and has a number of festive-themed episodes including ‘Christmas with Charles Dickens’ and ‘Medieval Christmas’.
Other names that appeared on the list varied across a wide range of genres including supernatural series The Witch Farm in eighth place, health podcast Just One Thing in sixth, and sports podcast Football Daily in 10th. The only other political podcast to appear on the list besides Newscast was the biographical series Putin in seventh place.
“More and more people in the UK are listening to podcasts which makes it an exciting time for those who are passionate about the medium," a BBC spokesperson said. "We continue to champion the growing UK podcast sector on BBC Sounds with our wide range of content, dedicated to world class storytelling, sport, news and entertainment, as well as help find and develop new ideas and voices on and off mic through initiatives including Audio Lab, to continually up the creative ambition for podcasts.”
Newscast was also at the top of the charts for BBC Sounds’ Q3 report in 2022 which was credited to the fast-changing political climate in the UK at the time. Its most popular episode at the time was “The Liz Truss BBC Local Radio Interviews”, a supercut of the then prime minister defending her mini-budget.
In comparison to BBC Sounds, Goalhangers’ The Rest is History podcast was the most-listened to podcast on average this festive period across the Apple Podcasts Great Britain list on Chartable. The Rest is Politics with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart followed behind, ranking in second place on average, and The Diary of A CEO averaged in third place.
