Apple's iTunes Store racks up 1B podcast subscriptions

Apple on Monday announced the iTunes Store now has more than one billion podcast subscriptions, and is celebrating the milestone by highlighting some of the most popular content since the medium hit the digital storefront in 2005.

According to Apple, the iTunes Store now has roughly 250,000 different podcasts in more than 100 languages, that have produced over a collective 8 million episodes, reports Macworld.

In a special section dedicated to the huge number of subscriptions, Apple notes that "podcasting has transformed the global media landscape." Podcasts are usually short, episodic series that fall into one of many genres, including comedy, documentary, and DIY, among others. Not bound to audio, podcasts also come in video, notables being TEDTalks and NBC Nightly News.

While Apple company does not directly profit from podcasts, creators have found ways to monetize their content through advertising, sponsorships, and other Internet-based methods. The company introduced its first standalone podcast app in iOS 6, allowing users to discover, download and manage their podcast subscriptions.

As for the "1 Billion Podcast Subscriptions" section in the iTunes Store, Apple features podcast selections from "The Classics," "What's Hot," and "New & Noteworthy."

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8 Comments

macbook pro

said about 10 years ago

This is one area where Apple is missing the boat. Video Podcasts of high quality with an pay or mandatory advertising financial model could make cable subscriptions obsolete.

christopher126

said about 10 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacBook Pro

This is one area where Apple is missing the boat. Video Podcasts of high quality with an pay or mandatory advertising financial model could make cable subscriptions obsolete.

Great idea!

constable odo

said about 10 years ago

One billion podcasts pales in comparison to Android's one billion device activations. Apple has become the master of owning worthless numbers. Apple doesn't get anything out of it which adds zero value to Apple as far as Wall Street is concerned.

chudq

said about 10 years ago

One billion subscriptions mean one billion people who appreciate the content of podcasts.You just don't get it. Apple is making great products and services real people love. That's the greatest value!

bigpics

said about 10 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by chudq

Actually, while I agree with your last two sentences, one B subs def doesn't = one B subbers. I subscribe to like 15 podcasts, e.g. Still, I commend Apple for making all this great content available to me for free over the years, without forcing me to buy anything (nor collecting from podcasters to my knowledge[??]).

What I'd like to see, though, is streaming podcasts a la the upcoming radio service. The downloads are large, slow, and require deletion management. I've been finding that most of my faves are already on Feedly, though I don't love the interface, so a non-download "way to play" would I think save both Apple and I bits (especially as I don't have enough time to watch every 'cast I download, and unlike my musical collection, much of the content I do watch gets stale or simply won't ever be re-watched so no need to "own" it).

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacBook Pro

This is one area where Apple is missing the boat. Video Podcasts of high quality with an pay or mandatory advertising financial model could make cable subscriptions obsolete.

How would this be different from Apple's already existing store model for high-quality video rentals and purchases? And again, in this media-saturated ubiquitously connected era, streaming paid video content sounds like a wave of the future I'll prefer.

PS: If Apple's already announced plans for streaming either podcasts or video content (on a rental and/or have available forever basis), I've not heard of it (or have forgotten it).