BBC iPlayer Radio hits one million downloads

People still want downloadable music and radio programs, despite the surge in popularity of streaming services, as the BBC has found out. Its iPlayer Radio service has just reached the milestone of one million program downloads.

"We knew from the success of our Podcast service that there was a demand to download BBC radio and music content to listen to whenever they wanted," Andrew Scott of BBC Digital told Digital Spy. The download functionality was added to the on-demand service less than a month before the figures were compiled.

"But hitting one million downloads across the whole of BBC radio and music has far surpassed our expectations. We’re looking forward to bringing audiences even more features like this over the coming months", Scott added.

Among the most popular iPlayer Radio downloads was BBC Radio 4 Drama, which includes programming such as Diamonds Are Forever and Silk: The Clerks’ Room, as well as Benedict Cumberbatch’s Rumpole.

BBC Radio 1’s Summer Mixes, The Archers, I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue, and Book at Bedtime made up the remainder of the top five.

The BBC reports that Sunday at around 10pm is its busiest download period, as users load content onto their devices for the week ahead.

BBC iPlayer downloads are available on iOS, Android and Kindle devices. On Android, it has an average score of 3.5, and somewhere between 10 and 50 million downloads. For the iOS, the current version has 376 ratings, and a total of two stars.

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