More than eight years after it first added podcasts to iTunes, Apple announced that it has passed 1 billion podcast subscriptions, as first noted by Macworld.
The company noted the milestone in the Podcast section of iTunes with the following statement:
From comedy to hard news to sports to innovative educational content and so much more, podcasting has transformed the global media landscape. Podcasts on iTunes launched in the summer of 2005 and since then, we’ve seen countless episodes downloaded and streamed. But the heart of podcasting is finding your favorite voices in this exciting field and subscribing to the best ones. To celebrate reaching 1 billion podcast subscriptions, we’re highlighting some of the most popular podcasts of all time, as well as a collection of captivating new shows.
Featured shows included This American Life, TEDTalks and the Alton Browncast.
Apple also told Macworld that iTunes now houses over 250,000 unique podcasts and 8 million episodes across over 100 languages.
Though Apple didn’t create podcasts, it can take some of the credit for helping them to go mainstream after leveraging its growing iTunes user base. Last year, Apple released a dedicated Podcasts app, but it hasn’t garnered much attention. It’s currently number 43 on the App Store’s top free apps list.
Apple is also set to launch a new iTunes Radio service this fall featuring streaming music.
(hat tip Mac Stories)
Image credit: Яick Harris / Flickr.
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