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BBC podcasts on third-party apps

bbc.co.uk

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Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#21

Post by moonstick »

monkeynotes wrote: post #17

While I understand the objections to Google self promoting their products and masking audience data I don't see how removing their podcasts from one of the most popular platforms helps with what the BBC claims to be important. "What we think is important is pretty simple. We want people to have easy access to the wide range of BBC programmes, not just a select few, and be able to discover and listen to new ones reall…

Wasn't this in the article - searches for BBC content is going to Google not the BBC. If they remove content from google, searches will go to BBC where they can display more than the limited range Google show.

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#23

Post by astura »

TheBeardKing wrote: post #11

I tried a few podcast searches through Google chrome desktop and Android and I don't really see what the big deal is. The first search result link is the podcast website, and the top few buttons integrated into the results page are just listing episodes and series and such, the same way done for movies, books, etc.

In fact, it's what Apple doesn't as well

https://podnews.net/article/bbc-blocks-google

So why are they calling out Google specifically? And what results would they prefer?

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#24

Post by fooqux »

atonse wrote: post #16
jamescridland wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not quite what happens. https://podnews.net/article/bbc-blocks-google does go into the actual user experience, rather than what the BBC is claiming.

But this brings up a good point. What is the value of google showing you the play buttons in the search results? They're trying to keep you on google's site.

>They're trying to keep you on google's site.

But why? I don't see a financial motivator here, unless there is some long-game that I'm not aware of. In theory, driving users to websites in a search result is likely just going to make Google more money from displaying ads.

The only thing I can currently think of is they actually are trying to improve the user experience.

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#25

Post by calewis »

Having worked at the BBC several times it’s yet again insular thinking. In short, they’ve spend a load of (wasted cash) on a proprietary app that is useless, but some “strategy” dork - who’s never actually built anything - thinks he can get Google to change. Good luck with that.

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#26

Post by Angostura »

I listen to all the BBCs podcasts through the Apple Podcasts app. Is there something that stops the Beeb getting meaningful statistics when it it is played via Google, but allow it to get those statistics when played via Podcasts.app

I find this story quite confusing.

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#28

Post by CannisterFlux »

Jonnax wrote: post #14

What's going on exactly? I subscribe to a few BBC podcasts on a podcast app via RSS. Is that going?

That's what I'd like to know too. Is this a first step to going proprietary-app-only? I hope not, and it probably doesn't mean that because at least with RSS the BBC still get some user metrics, such as location based on your IP address. Also removing RSS feeds would remove the podcasts from Apple's itunes, which is generally recognised as the biggest discovery platform for podcasts. But who knows?

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#29

Post by Neil44 »

calewis wrote: post #25

Having worked at the BBC several times it’s yet again insular thinking. In short, they’ve spend a load of (wasted cash) on a proprietary app that is useless, but some “strategy” dork - who’s never actually built anything - thinks he can get Google to change. Good luck with that.

I really like the BBC Sounds app, I know it holds a selection of high quality content that I like, as opposed to a firehose of any old thing like google et al.
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