BBC Sounds saw a record 4.53 million users during the week following the mini budget.
There was a weekly average of 4.3 million according to the latest figures, from July to September. The peak of 4.53 million in the week following the mini budget was particularly to Newscast, to help make sense of the economic crisis.
Newscast was the most listened to podcast during this quarter, with the Liz Truss BBC Local Radio Interviews episode, the most listened to that week and the most popular Newscast episode of all time.
You’re Dead to Me, the comedy podcast that takes history seriously, proved popular by being the most listened to by under 35-year-olds. It has consistently appeared in the top ten for all listeners and those under 35, for the last ten quarters.
True crime and investigative podcasts continue to be popular on BBC Sounds for listeners of all ages. Among the top ten most listened to podcasts for all adults and for listeners under 35 were Bad People – the series that questions the psychology behind some of the most disturbing cases in modern history – and the new series of Gangster: The Story of Curtis Warren.
Football podcasts continued to attract younger listeners. Jill Scott’s Coffee Club, The Footballer’s Football podcast and Match of the Day Top 10 had among the highest proportion of listeners under 35, while Moment Of Truth was in the top ten most popular for listeners under 35.
The Radio 4 fiction and drama podcast, Limelight, was also in the top ten most listened to this quarter. Both the fantasy horror English Rose, launched in July, and the North East based thriller Exemplar starring Gina McKee, were very popular.
From a total of 256 million global podcast downloads across the world during this quarter, Global News Podcast (BBC World Service), The Documentary (BBC World Service) and Newscast (BBC News) were the most popular.
Elsewhere, The Sleeping Forecast long listen from Back to Back Sounds was the most popular on-demand music and Desert Island Discs was the most popular on demand radio programme after The Archers. Episodes featuring Adele and Kate Moss were the most listened to across all on demand content this quarter.
There were 392 million plays of all audio on BBC Sounds, with a total of 178 million plays for on-demand radio and podcasts. 54 percent of overall plays on BBC Sounds were for live content and 65 percent of all listening hours on BBC Sounds were live.
Jonathan Wall, Director of BBC Sounds, said: “BBC Sounds has continued to grow this year, with a record number of people coming to us for our high quality and trusted news content during the biggest news events in the UK and to help understand how policies might impact them.
“Over the summer, high profile castaways on Desert Island Discs and our football podcasts also proved extremely popular with different audiences.
“We’re always trying to make it easier for more people to find and enjoy brilliant audio from across the BBC, such as our Back to Back Sounds feature.”
