Apple celebrates one billion podcasts subscriptions

Apple announced on Monday that the iTunes Store has crossed the one billion podcast subscriptions landmark. To celebrate the occasion, Apple is putting out a special promotion in the Podcasts section of iTunes.

Marking the milestone on the Podcasts tab, the company wrote in a statement, “From comedy to hard news to sports to innovative educational content and so much more, podcasting has transformed the global media landscape.” The first of the podcasts was launched back in 2005, and nearly eight years later podcast subscriptions have crossed the billion mark. The subscriptions are in more than 100 different languages, spread across 250,000 unique podcasts. It also said that more than eight million episodes have been published in the iTunes Store till date.

Celebrating the greatest hits

“But the heart of podcasting is finding your favorite voices in this exciting field and subscribing to the best ones,” added Apple. It has highlighted some of the most popular podcasts of all time in a new section, as well as shifted the limelight on to some “captivating” new shows in iTunes.

Some of the highlighted podcasts on the store include TED Talks, Sesame Street, BBC’s Global News and more. The New and Noteworthy section has highlighted episodes from NPR, The Art of Photography and Freakonomics Radio.

Apple has had an important role in ensuring podcasts have reached the dizzying heights it has today. While Podcasts were always a part of the Apple suite, the company released a whole new app dedicated just for streaming and downloading episodes last year. Unfortunately, the separate Podcasts app has not met with much success in the iOS ecosystem. Hopefully, the one billion subscription mark will be able to bring back the lost charm of listening to podcasts on iOS devices and boost the app’s fortunes.