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BBC podcasts on third-party apps

bbc.co.uk

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Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#81

Post by jaredcwhite »

rbinv wrote: post #46
lbacaj wrote: post #31

Technically speaking the way Podcasts work is a fascinating thing. Most on HN May be familiar with this already but Podcasts are completely open and a creator simply publishes an RSS that they then provide to a podcast App such as iTunes so it can appear on the Apple podcast app. In exchange most of these podcast apps share any listen counts and analytics with the owner of the Podcast. However, almost always the file…

You seem to be rather shameless yourself as you're still annoyingly dropping links to your app any chance you get (almost no matter the topic). This was even mentioned to you roughly a month ago by someone else: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19287119 Didn't seem to have much of a lasting impact on you.

Well I for one don't mind it because that's how I found out about the service in question and am really enjoying using it. If the OP has something of interest to say in the comment, the "signature" link is no problem IMHO.

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#82

Post by majewsky »

Spivak wrote: post #55
scarface74 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More and more platforms are popping up creating “exclusive” podcasts I think the issue is that you put the emphasis on “exclusive” instead of “podcasts”. If it isn’t delivered over an RSS feed that I can subscribe to in my podcast player of choice, it’s not a podcast.

Seems odd to define a thing by how it's packaged and consumed rather than the content itself. An episodic internet radio show doesn't stop being a podcast just because you're listening to it through winamp. Would all it take to convince you that a podcast can delivered via something other than RSS, say ActivityPub, be your preferred client supporting it?

> Seems odd to define a thing by how it's packaged and consumed rather than the content itself.

You mean like TV shows? And radio shows? And newspaper comics?

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#83

Post by AJRF »

Theodores wrote: post #79
Traster wrote: post #3

This is hilarious. Google is trying to leverage it's search & mobile OS market positions into pushing people towards its podcast app. Unfortunately for Google it has come up against one of the few entities in the world that can just turn around and say "Fuck. That." Frankly, I think this is a monopolist tactic from Google and it should result in government investigations but I have no hope that will happen. Nice to k…

Actually there is a problem with the BBC. In the UK how do you compete for news eyeballs and try and make it pay when the BBC news is for free? Imagine your business is weather forecasting, the same applies. Then there is the small matter of the license fee. Most people just pay it out of fear of being caught by one of the legendary detector vans. But you can't have a TV or a monitor that also does TV without being h…

Hassled for the rest of your days is a bit much. You email, send them a letter or call them or I think there is actually a website that you can register on which remove's them questioning you needing the license or not. I did it and i've not heard from them since. Not exactly rocket science.

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#85

Post by dalbasal »

While Google & FB gobbled up the juiciest chunks of online media, podcasts have somehow remained one or of the freeiest media, imo working like the open web was supposed to.

Ooh, it's kind of surprising. Discovery is still clunky. Getting from website to subscribed can be clunky. It's not interactive or conversational. Advertising is tricky. Podcasters generally have to negotiate deals separately. There are no clicks and podcasters can't really do the ad targeting that makes most online ads valuable. There isn't a deep analysis of pauses and abandons, like in google.

OTOH, there are no content policies. No "demonetization." No spying on consumers. No clickbait. No seo... and for the most part no rulers.

Even the clunkiness of discovery is half-feature. You ask friends what they listen to, and that mode of slow-and steady distribution makes for better incentives.

Meanwhile, Google and the like look at podcasts and see a piece of unclaimed territory like late stage empires and an island that wasn't worth bothering with 100 years previously.

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#86

Post by calewis »

newaccoutnas wrote: post #32
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.

The thing is, generally, they iterate quickly and it becomes less crappy over time. This has happened with lots of their products. Everytime the News frontpage got changed everyone lost their shit, however if you look back now at the older designs you see it was a falacy holding on to them. I'm not saying Sounds is perfect (there's been some vitriol), but it wouldn't be out of the ordinary if it improved based on fee…

BBC news is separate division and has a strong leader (like sport). BBC design is obsessed with making everything look the same, it’s been going bland for years. BBC3 was another missed opportunity like this one. The walled gardens have already been built.

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#87

Post by astura »

ar0 wrote: post #43
astura wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Their comparison to and discussion of the iPhone behaviour seems to be quite disingenuous to me: The iPhone search searches websites and your phone. Apps that you have installed on your phone can register to provide search results. If you don't have Apple Podcasts installed, you won't get any search results for "Apple Podcasts" (I tested this). And if you have another podcast player installed that supports iPhone-wid…

I never installed Google Podcasts on my Android device. I just tried searching for BBC Podcasts on my Android and I didn't even get a link to play anything on Google Podcasts. My results were mainly Wikipedia pages and the homepages of the podcasts themselves on bbc.co.uk, and even BBC's Sounds website, which they claim Google is hiding.

https://imgur.com/oiFQLXj

https://imgur.com/UbacU32

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#88

Post by sjwright »

Angostura wrote: post #26

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.

Apple’s podcast app may have a fancy storefront for discovery but is fundamentally just a normal, not special at all RSS based podcast playing app that works exactly as podcasts were intended to.

Google have smooshed their player into google web search results so that you will probably visit Google’s podcast player instead of going to the content producer’s website.

Apple: normal podcast player app.

Google: abusing their search monopoly.

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#89

Post by tomgp »

Jsharm wrote: post #8

I don't know why BBC pushes it's sounds app so hard. I get nagged to use it every time I listen through Alexa too. There's no BBC sounds smart speaker so why do they care? What do they gain from me using the app?

As other users have pointed out metrics is probably part of this but I suspect there's also a matter of music licensing. The Sounds app has more music documentaries where they keep the music in (BBC podcasts tend to strip it out) as well as curated playlists of music. Securing licenses to broadcast copyrighted content on-line and in perpetuity has for a long while been a huge deal for the BBC and forms at least part of the reason why much of their huge back catalogue of TV and radio remains unavailable (source: I used to work there (caveat: ~7 years ago so this may be out of date)).

Re: BBC podcasts on third-party apps

#90

Post by sjwright »

monkeynotes wrote: post #61
snapdangle wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If Google Podcasts has gone from non-existence to being "one of the most popular platforms" in a matter of months, its actually an insanely good reason not to engage with them at all.

Can you explain this a little? I don't really understand your point.

If this isn’t antitrust, then I don’t know what is.
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