Pondering pods

I'm still struggling with the BBC and podcasts. They are clearly a route to slightly younger audiences. In the Midas Winter Survey, conducted by RAJAR, 11% of the 2,270 sampled said they had listened to a least one podcast a week. The majority were in the 25-34 group.

Is the current I-Tunes top ten UK podcasts any guide to what's going on ? Four of the current list are from the BBC. None seem to come from traditional 'commercial radio'.

Number 1, today (from more or less nowhere) is..

THE HEALTH CODE

"A fun, informative, unfiltered and real podcast run by health and fitness YouTuber, Sarah's Day and professional photographer, content creator and. . . Sarah's boyfriend, Kurt Tilse. This dynamic duo are here to crack the code on all things health, fitness, lifestyle, relationships and building your dream career."  They're based in the Sydney suburb of Neutral Bay.

A post shared by Sarah (@sarahs_day) on Mar 29, 2018 at 6:27pm PDT

At Number 2
HAPPY PLACE
Fearne Cotton's 40-odd minute interviews with celebs talking about mindfulness and mental health. Links back to her website where you can buy her books on those topics (and cooking).

At Number 3
EVIL GENIUS
From the BBC: Russell Kane and a panel of guests discuss the good and bad sides of famous people. Six available, from John Lennon to Marie Stopes, with the warning "Contains language which some might find offensive"

At Number 4
STEPHEN FRY'S GREAT LEAP YEARS
This is quite an achievement - the only audio available to date is a trailer, for a six part series on inventions, sponsored by Hyundai, and produced by SamFry, a company formed with Ozzie Andrew Sampson

At Number 5
DESERT ISLAND DISCS
Yes, from the BBC

At Number 6
TED TALKS DAILY
"Every weekday, this feed brings you our latest talks in audio format. Hear thought-provoking ideas on every subject imaginable -- from Artificial Intelligence to Zoology, and everything in between -- given by the world's leading thinkers and doers."

At Number 7
BLOOD ON THE TRACKS
Colin Murray's Radio 2 short series (of four), with guests vying to choose Best Intro, etc

At Number 8
#VIRAL WITH NATALIE ALZATE
"join YouTube superstar and entrepreneur Natalie Alzate, aka Natalies Outlet, as she interviews established and emerging digital stars and dives deep into how they tackle success."

At Number 9
FRIDAY NIGHT COMEDY FROM BBC RADIO 4

Bringing you a satirical take on the week's news with Chain Reaction, Radio 4's tag-team interview show, to entertain you during the Now Show/News Quiz summer break

At Number 10
MY DAD WROTE A PORNO
"If your dad wrote a dirty book most people would try to ignore it and pretend it had never happened - but not Jamie Morton, who decided to read it to the world. With the help of his friends James Cooper and BBC Radio 1's Alice Levine, Jamie reads a chapter a week". You can buy t-shirts from their website. 


1630 Update (from wayback in 2016): "It isn't a chart and it doesn't measure podcast downloads. But what does it measure?" - a helfpul piece from James Cridland