Listeners were Obsessed With Line Of Duty, football and festival music mixes on BBC Sounds this quarter
BBC Sounds attracted a weekly audience of 3.7 million users across the app, website and voice activated devices between April and June, with a peak of 3.9 million during the week of the Line Of Duty finale.
Published: 3:30 pm, 30 July 2021
Updated: 3:10 pm, 30 July 2021
BBC Sounds attracted a weekly audience of 3.7 million users across the app, website and voice activated devices between April and June, with a peak of 3.9 million during the week of the Line Of Duty finale.
The latest data shows there were 335 million plays of all audio and a total of 146 million plays for on demand radio and podcasts. Remaining steady for this quarter, 55% of overall plays on BBC Sounds were for live content and 66% of all listening hours on BBC Sounds were live.
The most popular titles this quarter demonstrate the huge range of audio people are enjoying on BBC Sounds:
- In the quarter that included Euros 2020, That Peter Crouch Podcast and Match Of The Day: Top 10 were the most listened to podcasts by under 35 year-olds, and among the top 10 podcasts for both all adults and those with the highest proportion of listeners under 35. Football Daily was also the third most listened to on demand radio programme for under 35s.
- BBC Sounds continued to bring festivals to listeners with themed mixes for Glastonbury and BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend among the top ten most played music.
- New podcasts for this quarter which immediately proved popular and feature in the top ten include investigative true crime titles Gangster: The Story of Paul Massey and The Lazarus Heist, as well as wellbeing podcast Just One Thing With Michael Mosley.
- In addition to the popularity of Obsessed With… Line Of Duty, which was the third most listened to podcast, our TV soundtracks also featured in the top ten for music.
On Demand Radio
Classic sleuthing from Wimsey and Sherlock Holmes gripped listeners as the two most listened to on demand radio programmes this quarter, after The Archers.
Radio 1 Anthems was the most listened to on demand radio programme for under 35s and had the highest proportion of listeners under 35, with Radio 1’s 10-hour Takeover, where listeners get to choose the music, in second.
Music Mixes
In this quarter there were 4 million plays of music mixes on BBC Sounds. For those missing the real thing, festival themed mixes for Glastonbury and Radio 1’s Big Weekend proved very popular this quarter as well as new guest curated mixes Piano Flow with Lianne La Havas and Patrick Kielty’s Cover Stories.
Podcasts
Audiences were tuning into the companion podcast Obsessed With… Line Of Duty in their droves each week to hear Craig ‘The Caddy’ Parkinson delve into the phenomenon that is Line Of Duty, with guests including stars Vicky McClure, Anna Maxwell-Martin and show creator Jed Mercurio. It was the third most listened to podcast overall and fourth among under 35s, with the final two episodes the most played across all on demand radio and podcasts this quarter.
As the season came to a close and Euros 2020 kicked off, football fever took hold with That Peter Crouch Podcast and Match Of The Day: Top 10 the most listened to podcasts by under 35 year olds, and among the top 10 podcasts for both all adults and titles with the highest proportion of listeners under 35. Football Daily was also the third most listened to on demand radio programme for under 35s and was also in the top ten most downloaded podcasts globally on third party platforms, along with That Peter Crouch Podcast.
New podcasts The Lazarus Heist and Gangster: The Story Of Paul Massey proved investigative true crime continues to be popular, with both titles in the top ten most listened to by all adults. Joining them was another hit new podcast Just One Thing with Michael Mosley, sharing surprisingly simple tips that are scientifically proven to change your life.
As their quest for celebrity guests including Deborah Meaden, Greg James and Tim Key continued, Six Degrees from Jamie and Spencer was once again the podcast with the highest proportion of younger listeners, followed by gaming podcast Press X To Continue.
BBC podcasts and radio programmes on third party platforms
With a total of 257 million global podcast downloads between April and June this year, Global News Podcast and The Documentary continued to receive the highest number of downloads on third party platforms, followed by Desert Island Discs and In Our Time.
AM2