Thanks to 'Serial' & Apple's Podcasts app baked into iOS 8, podcast listens grow 18%
Though podcasts are not a new medium, the format has seen significant growth over the last few months, attributed in part to the fact that Apple's Podcasts app is now built in to iOS 8.
Between the spring and fall of 2014, podcast consumption in the U.S. grew 18 percent, according to new data from Edison Research. Two factors are believed to have contributed the most to the recent growth spurt for podcasts, according to AdAge: The success of "Serial," and Apple's decision to include Podcasts in iOS 8.
Starting with the launch of iOS 8 last September, iPhone users found Apple's official Podcasts app automatically included, and unable to be removed, from their device. That, along with buzz for "Serial," is attributed with pushing podcasts to the mainstream.
A spinoff of the hit public radio show "This American Life," "Serial" took the podcast world by storm last year, with a unique structure investigating a real-life murder case. The episodic nature of the podcast, stretching the one case out over 12 episodes, proved to be a huge hit, leading to more than 68 million downloads.
Serial was recognized by Apple in its Best of 2014 iTunes awards as the "Best New Podcast" of last year. Apple, of course, helped to popularize podcasts a decade ago, when support for the medium was included in iTunes 4.9.
The name podcast itself is a reference to Apple's iconic iPod media player, though the downloadable Internet radio programs can be played across a variety of devices. Listeners can download individual episodes or subscribe to a series, having new episodes automatically delivered through "podcatchers" like Apple's own Podcasts app for iOS.
AppleInsider recently launched its own podcast in which editors discuss the week's top stories. New episodes are released on Fridays, and listeners can subscribe via iTunes or the official Podcasts app for iOS.
Between the spring and fall of 2014, podcast consumption in the U.S. grew 18 percent, according to new data from Edison Research. Two factors are believed to have contributed the most to the recent growth spurt for podcasts, according to AdAge: The success of "Serial," and Apple's decision to include Podcasts in iOS 8.
Starting with the launch of iOS 8 last September, iPhone users found Apple's official Podcasts app automatically included, and unable to be removed, from their device. That, along with buzz for "Serial," is attributed with pushing podcasts to the mainstream.
A spinoff of the hit public radio show "This American Life," "Serial" took the podcast world by storm last year, with a unique structure investigating a real-life murder case. The episodic nature of the podcast, stretching the one case out over 12 episodes, proved to be a huge hit, leading to more than 68 million downloads.
Serial was recognized by Apple in its Best of 2014 iTunes awards as the "Best New Podcast" of last year. Apple, of course, helped to popularize podcasts a decade ago, when support for the medium was included in iTunes 4.9.
The name podcast itself is a reference to Apple's iconic iPod media player, though the downloadable Internet radio programs can be played across a variety of devices. Listeners can download individual episodes or subscribe to a series, having new episodes automatically delivered through "podcatchers" like Apple's own Podcasts app for iOS.
AppleInsider recently launched its own podcast in which editors discuss the week's top stories. New episodes are released on Fridays, and listeners can subscribe via iTunes or the official Podcasts app for iOS.
Comments
Feeling a bit old though, I remember when iTunes 4.9 came out and I was excited to upgrade...
I agree that it was complete crap when it first came out but I have to say I've not really had any issues with the standalone Podcast app for a quite long time now and the iOS 8 version works very well for me with background updates and downloads of new episodes.
I agree that it was complete crap when it first came out but I have to say I've not really had any issues with the standalone Podcast app for a quite long time now and the iOS 8 version works very well for me with background updates and downloads of new episodes.
I use Pocket Casts pretty much exclusively.
What happened. My comments simply disappeared. I did not save them. Where did they go? What does "undefined" mean?
"Podcasts" would be fine if it didn't have that incredibly irritating 100MB limitation for downloads over the cell network. It's a completely arbitrary limitation that can not be modified or disabled, so I have to use a third party podcast app to download video podcasts over LTE. Sucks, because that app is nowhere near as good as "Podcasts" but it lets me do what I want.
Other than this stupid limitation, I find it to be great because it's very simple and works reliably. All the other podcast apps I've used have fairly counterintuitive UIs.
The only reason they have those numbers is due to laziness. People are too lazy to find an alternative so they just stick with what's there. THere's no reason to however, Apple's podcast app is garbage compared to everything else. It's not even close to holding a candle to apps like Downcast.
App works just fine...
App works just fine...
I'm glad it's working for you, I've run into a lot of the issues that others have reported (primarily not downloading or syncing). Since the app has a 2 1/2 star rating on iTunes, and the apple support page is very active, I suspect I'm not alone.
It's a pity "Serial" sucked...it might turn people off to trying other podcasts.
Ftfy. It sucked so hard people listened the shit out of it. Makes no sense.
I'd submit that a bug to Apple. Even if an app is closed (i.e.: no longer residing in RAM) the last app that was playing audio should still be called by the OS as soon as you press the Play button, with the last place you were at being queued up.
If you added a comment from the article page, that might be why. Try clicking through to the forum first and then add the comment.