Stat fest

BBC Radio & Education boss James Purnell has some facts and figures that might quiet the podcast doubters.

In September, there were nearly 26.5 million downloads of BBC podcasts in the UK. In August 2015, when the BBC first started counting, there were some 16.5m downloads. The September figure breaks down in 14.6m for Radio 4, 4.7m for Radio 5Live, and 750,000 for Radio 1. There's no granularity offered on the remaining 6m.

Mr Purnell says 6 million of us listen to podcasts every week - 11% of the population (RAJAR's last published figure, from summer, was 6.5m and 12%). Is there more to come from this goldrush ? USA statistics suggest that podcasts there reach 26% of the population every month.

It's a serious business, and James is taking it seriously. But I suspect that now is time for some financial transparency. The BBC breaks down how much it spends on broadcasting by network. If BBC podcasts are reaching, say, 3 to 4 million people a week, that's more than the reach of Radio 3 or any of the digital-only networks. Licence-fee-payers, listeners and BBC staff should be told how much is being spent on podcasting.

James has previously called for a proper podcasting chart. It's clear the BBC could produce one of its own. I think a regular BBC Top Ten would be a useful addition to transparency.