The latest listening figures show that merry music mixes, ghostly goings-on and the US election contributed to another record quarter for BBC Sounds.
Quarter 4 2024 data showed there was a record 644 million plays of all content across radio, podcasts and music mixes between October and December 2024 and a record 253 million plays of on demand radio and podcasts.
This quarter also saw the launch of two new music streams, Radio 3 Unwind and Radio 1 Anthems, giving listeners on BBC Sounds more choice of music to suit their mood.
In Q4 BBC Sounds had a weekly audience average of 4.8 million, which is up more than 3% on the previous quarter, peaking at 4.96 million weekly active accounts during US election week.
Danny Robins’ Uncanny took the top spot as the most popular podcast overall this quarter and amongst listeners under 35s, driven by the release of Halloween: Trilogy of Terror and daily bite-size spooky stories, along with two creepy Christmas specials.
With the US election in November, listeners were kept up to date with the news and current affairs podcasts; Newscast and Americast were the second and third most listened to podcasts respectively, both overall and with listeners under 35. The new series of The Coming Storm with Gabriel Gatehouse, from Radio 4, was the sixth most listened to podcast by all adults.
Audio drama proved a hit once again this quarter with Drama on 4 and Whodunnits on Radio 4 Extra both among the top ten most listened to on demand radio programmes with The Archers retaining the number one spot. The Limelight feed, from Radio 4 (which included Central Intelligence featuring Kim Cattrall, Ed Harris, and Johnny Flynn) ranked as the fifth most listened to podcast.
Other popular podcasts in the top ten this quarter included Radio 4’s new story-driven history series, The History Podcast, and Curious Cases with Hannah Fry and new co-presenter Dara Ó Briain.
From BBC Radio 5 Live, Elis James and John Robins’ award-winning radio show charted as the second most listened to on demand radio programme with the under 35 audience and sixth most listened to overall.
Sports titles also helped drive younger listeners on BBC Sounds, including Radio 5 Live’s Football Daily and Match of the Day: Top 10.
The Tortoise Investigates feed was popular with younger listeners tuning in to a trio of newly acquired titles Hoaxed, Sweet Bobby and Pig Iron. The feed ranked in the top ten podcasts among under 35s, demonstrating the success of BBC Sounds’ acquisition partnerships.
Radio 1’s All Day Breakfast with Greg James had the highest percentage of listeners under 35; with on demand music titles Sidetracked with Annie and Nick and Make Me A Mixtape with Clara Amfo and Jordan Stephens also in the top five.
Helping listeners get into the festive mood, Christmas Music was the most listened to music mix on BBC Sounds this quarter, (with Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Kitchen Disco Ultimate Christmas Hits! the top performer), followed by The Sleeping Forecast, Mindful Mix and Sounds of the 90s with Fearne Cotton.
There was a total of 214 million downloads of BBC podcasts around the world this quarter, with the Global News Podcast ranked number one on third party platforms followed by 6 Minute English and The Documentary Podcast.
Jonathan Wall, Director of BBC Sounds, says: “The past quarter saw some exciting festive content from the BBC plus the return of our fantastic ‘Christmas Music’ mixes.
“The BBC remains the ‘go-to’ for trusted news and current affairs content with our daily podcasts and live BBC News stream allowing listeners to closely follow all the action from US election week, drawing a peak audience on Sounds of almost five million weekly users.
“We continue to bring audiences a wide range of top quality audio, whether that’s radio, music or our brilliant podcast offer, which remains a testament to the high-quality programming being commissioned across the BBC and beyond.”
