7 ms·

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

by Jsharm 8y ago

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?

eddieroger 8y ago
Because when you use their ecosystem, they get user data. They acknowledge that in their blog post: > We also want to make our programmes and services as good as they can possibly be - this means us getting hold of meaningful audience data. They claim it's because they're a public service and need to know what the public want, but there are other ways, and I'm torn on if it's a legit case or not. NPR has been trying to up use of NPR One for what I assume are similar reasons, but haven't gone the way of shutting out listening sources yet. Instead, they propose a standards [0] to do it from the listeners, and it's showing no signs of success. 0. https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-extra/2018/12/11/675250553/remote-audio-data-is-here https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-extra/2018/12/11/675250553/...
- dageshi 8y ago
  As part of their public service remit they need to be able to show they're making content for all age ranges/demographics, if a big chunk of the audience is moving to podcasts, especially if that part of the audience is younger then that's a big deal for them.
- nyolfen 8y ago
  npr recently bought pocket casts, which immediately went from my favorite app to a bug-ridden mess
- snarf21 8y ago
  This is the super weird reasoning. It is as simple as incentivizing the users. Make one popular podcast only available in their app and let the users consume everything else as is. You'll quickly figure out what content is driving use of their app.
- driverdan 8y ago
  Which is a lie. Podcasts are played directly from the source, meaning they have the stats already. The only thing they may not know are subscription rates.
  - kwhitefoot 8y ago
    I use Podcast Addict on my Moto and gpodder on Linux. In both cases I have a massive subscription list that downloads episodes daily. The server that supplies them knows only that I downloaded it, not whether or not I actually listened or that I listened to a few minutes and then abandoned the episode. The purpose is to have a wide variety of material to listen to in my car (via Bluetooth) in which I do not have a data connection.
    - pessimizer 8y ago
      So probably volume of downloads is an excellent, but somewhat ambiguous indicator of audience. Unless you continue to download podcasts that you listen to for a few minutes then abandon - but that would probably make you as much of an outlier as someone who downloads once, but copies the episode for someone else.
  - eddieroger 8y ago
    Podcasts are downloaded from source, but may also be downloaded and played locally. Knowing download data isn't the same as knowing it was actually played (I regularly delete podcasts from my feed, but my client still downloads them), let along if I'm pausing for periods at a time, or fast forwarding, or any other habits that may be useful.
14 8y ago
my guess is metrics. I once had my cable company call me out of nowhere near the end of the year. Wanted to lower my bill by 12$ a month, wanted to increase my service from internet only to internet with full tv package all tiers, AND if I agreed to all this would get a 300$ visa gift card. After 6 months if I did not like it no strings attached and I could stop. So I being skeptical I was even talking to my ISP company asked why would they give such and offer when I was already a non complaining customer. They said to me that honestly they just are trying to get their year end TV subscriber numbers up before the numbers go to investors who see annual reports or something. They were in a huge push to beat the local competitors. It ended up really being my ISP and they were good on what they offered.
mcintyre1994 8y ago
I think they gave it away here - they're trying to get metrics and analytics they don't get through other apps. Podcasts have always offered really limited data, Apple do offer some data now - and I'm sure Google are collecting plenty but obviously they're keeping it to themselves. There was a play for a new podcasting standard by I think Gimlet (or one of them big companies in the space), that let you have user identifiers, inject ads based on whatever at different times, and send tracking messages at different times. I listened to an interview with the guy who makes Overcast and he basically said there's no reason any podcast app except theirs would want to support that, so I guess owning your own app for your own content is really the only way to get those analytics if you want them.
tomgp 8y ago
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)).
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  Woudln't that mean the BBC are lying? Surely not ... I can understand older items in the back catalogue needing to be removed, but for most shows now the standard contract should include "and presented on iPlayer in perpetuity". I don't know why they'd commission a new children's show, for example, and not include such a clause?
rwmj 8y ago
Private Eye has been covering this extensively. In brief a senior executive who sees himself as one day being head of the BBC is pushing it, even though it's broken, no one likes it, and it reduces money available for making programmes.
- JetSpiegel 8y ago
  So "W1A is a documentary" strikes again...

by Jsharm 8y ago

eddieroger 8y ago

Because when you use their ecosystem, they get user data. They acknowledge that in their blog post: > We also want to make our programmes and services as good as they can possibly be - this means us getting hold of meaningful audience data. They claim it's because they're a public service and need to know what the public want, but there are other ways, and I'm torn on if it's a legit case or not. NPR has been trying to up use of NPR One for what I assume are similar reasons, but haven't gone the way of shutting out listening sources yet. Instead, they propose a standards [0] to do it from the listeners, and it's showing no signs of success. 0. https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-extra/2018/12/11/675250553/remote-audio-data-is-here https://www.npr.org/sections/npr-extra/2018/12/11/675250553/...

dageshi 8y ago
As part of their public service remit they need to be able to show they're making content for all age ranges/demographics, if a big chunk of the audience is moving to podcasts, especially if that part of the audience is younger then that's a big deal for them.
nyolfen 8y ago
npr recently bought pocket casts, which immediately went from my favorite app to a bug-ridden mess
snarf21 8y ago
This is the super weird reasoning. It is as simple as incentivizing the users. Make one popular podcast only available in their app and let the users consume everything else as is. You'll quickly figure out what content is driving use of their app.
driverdan 8y ago
Which is a lie. Podcasts are played directly from the source, meaning they have the stats already. The only thing they may not know are subscription rates.
- kwhitefoot 8y ago
  I use Podcast Addict on my Moto and gpodder on Linux. In both cases I have a massive subscription list that downloads episodes daily. The server that supplies them knows only that I downloaded it, not whether or not I actually listened or that I listened to a few minutes and then abandoned the episode. The purpose is to have a wide variety of material to listen to in my car (via Bluetooth) in which I do not have a data connection.
  - pessimizer 8y ago
    So probably volume of downloads is an excellent, but somewhat ambiguous indicator of audience. Unless you continue to download podcasts that you listen to for a few minutes then abandon - but that would probably make you as much of an outlier as someone who downloads once, but copies the episode for someone else.
- eddieroger 8y ago
  Podcasts are downloaded from source, but may also be downloaded and played locally. Knowing download data isn't the same as knowing it was actually played (I regularly delete podcasts from my feed, but my client still downloads them), let along if I'm pausing for periods at a time, or fast forwarding, or any other habits that may be useful.

14 8y ago

my guess is metrics. I once had my cable company call me out of nowhere near the end of the year. Wanted to lower my bill by 12$ a month, wanted to increase my service from internet only to internet with full tv package all tiers, AND if I agreed to all this would get a 300$ visa gift card. After 6 months if I did not like it no strings attached and I could stop. So I being skeptical I was even talking to my ISP company asked why would they give such and offer when I was already a non complaining customer. They said to me that honestly they just are trying to get their year end TV subscriber numbers up before the numbers go to investors who see annual reports or something. They were in a huge push to beat the local competitors. It ended up really being my ISP and they were good on what they offered.

mcintyre1994 8y ago

I think they gave it away here - they're trying to get metrics and analytics they don't get through other apps. Podcasts have always offered really limited data, Apple do offer some data now - and I'm sure Google are collecting plenty but obviously they're keeping it to themselves. There was a play for a new podcasting standard by I think Gimlet (or one of them big companies in the space), that let you have user identifiers, inject ads based on whatever at different times, and send tracking messages at different times. I listened to an interview with the guy who makes Overcast and he basically said there's no reason any podcast app except theirs would want to support that, so I guess owning your own app for your own content is really the only way to get those analytics if you want them.

tomgp 8y ago

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)).

pbhjpbhj 8y ago
Woudln't that mean the BBC are lying? Surely not ... I can understand older items in the back catalogue needing to be removed, but for most shows now the standard contract should include "and presented on iPlayer in perpetuity". I don't know why they'd commission a new children's show, for example, and not include such a clause?

rwmj 8y ago

Private Eye has been covering this extensively. In brief a senior executive who sees himself as one day being head of the BBC is pushing it, even though it's broken, no one likes it, and it reduces money available for making programmes.

JetSpiegel 8y ago
So "W1A is a documentary" strikes again...