BBC Studios extends BBC Podcasts Premium
NOVEMBER 28, 2023 06.00 EUROPE/LONDON BY JULIAN CLOVER

BBC Studios is expanding the availability of BBC Podcasts Premium to 166 new countries Including France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, South Africa.

BBC Podcasts Premium offers early access and ad-free listening for a range of the BBC’s most popular titles for listeners on Apple Podcasts.

The international rollout of BBC Podcasts Premium coincides with the launch of The Global Story, a brand-new daily news podcast from BBC Studios and BBC World Service. Hosted by Katya Adler, The Global Story drills deep into a single story everyday offering content and insight from the BBC’s best global journalists and expertise from all over the world.

“Audio is core to the BBC’s heritage. We’ve been doing it for over a century and it forms part of our fabric as a global newscaster and storyteller,” said Louise la Grange, SVP – Audio Distribution, BBC Studios. “With a wide, inventive slate of audio content that includes everything from daily news to sports analysis to pop culture to fiction and more, we’re incredibly excited to continue to expand our relationship with Apple to reach more listeners globally. Through BBC Podcasts Premium, we’re inviting new audiences around the world into this seamless, premium listening experience to hear the very best of our audio journalism and storytelling.”

BBC Podcasts Premium follows launches in Australia in May and New Zealand in March of this year and in the United States and Canada in 2021.

Since its initial 2021 launch, BBC Podcasts Premium has been a regular fixture in Apple’s Top 10 subscriber channels and its podcast Dua Lipa: At Your Service was named one of Apple Podcasts ‘Shows We Love’ for 2023. The recording artist makes for a surprisingly good interviewer.

BBC Podcasts premium also gives subscribers early access to podcasts including Good Bad Billionaire, Infinite Monkey Cage, and Intrigue and ad-free versions of popular shows across news, true crime, pop culture, history, science, and fiction.

Titles include BBC Global News Podcast, The Global Story, World Business Report, Infinite Monkey Cage and Just One Thing with Michael Mosley