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Record audience for BBC Sounds

January 31, 2020

The weekly audience for BBC Sounds, the broadcaster’s streaming media and audio download service, peaked at a record 2.9 million during Q4 2019, topping the previous record peak of 2.5 million in the previous quarter.

New figures confirm that more than half a million young people (16-34s) use Sounds each week, and that BBC Radio stations are hugely popular on BBC Sounds with 56 per cent of overall plays being of live content. This rises to 67 per cent when looking at the total hours spent with BBC Sounds, showing the lure of the brilliant schedules that keep listeners tuned in.

On demand listening makes up 44 per cent of the total plays on BBC Sounds, and this includes radio programmes, podcasts and music mixes – which achieved record numbers in this quarter. There were more than 100 million plays of podcasts and on demand radio programmes on BBC Sounds this quarter, double the number in the previous quarter.

There were 250 million plays of all content this quarter.

Jonathan Wall, Controller of BBC Sounds, said: “We’ve seen great growth on Sounds with more and more people using it for live and on demand listening. Our brilliant live radio stations are at the heart of BBC Sounds and at the same time people are increasingly choosing to listen to podcasts and radio on demand. No matter how or what people want to listen to, Sounds makes it easier to discover and enjoy something relevant from the BBC. It’s testimony to our great range of audio that well known favourites such as Desert Island Discs as well as popular podcasts like The Missing Cryptoqueen all feature prominently in our top titles.”

Categories: Articles, Digital Radio