Monday 8 October 2012, 13:03
Radio broadcasting in the UK will turn 90 later this year. It has remained in rude health through a combination of content and technological innovation. Earlier this year, Radio 1's Hackney Weekend 2012 and the Radio 3 Proms showed how BBC radio stations are becoming fully multimedia brands that provide not only a great listen but are increasingly visually and socially engaging.
2012 has also seen a step change in the number of people listening to and watching our content on mobiles and tablets. For example, during the week of Radio 1’s Hackney Weekend, 34% of browsers visiting the site came via mobile and tablet. In the week when traffic to the Proms site peaked, 20% of browsers accessed the site via tablet. Last month saw an 88% year-on-year increase in reach to our mobile optimised sites. This was anticipated by the overall strategy for BBC Online announced in 2011.
Today we've launched BBC iPlayer Radio. It brings together iPlayer and the radio station sites to create a new BBC home for radio within iPlayer across PC, mobile and tablet.
You can find BBC iPlayer Radio by:
See Andrew Scott's blog post for details about the new features that you'll find in iPlayer Radio. This video shows key features of the smartphone app. As always, we welcome your feedback.
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BBC iPlayer Radio provides a platform on which we will be developing radio stations as fully multimedia brands. So that as well as listen, audiences can watch, share and engage with the BBC radio content they love.
Our next steps will focus on making live radio more interactive, making it easier for people to enjoy the BBC's vast audio archive and strengthening radio's position as the number one place for discovering music in the UK.
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Friday 5 October 2012, 13:49
Thursday 11 October 2012, 14:57
Comment number 1.
Steve Brammer8th October 2012 - 16:13
No love for Android, as usual.
When you say mobile or tablet, what you really mean is iPhone or iPad isn't it?
Link to this (Comment number 1)
Comment number 2.
Alan Robertson8th October 2012 - 16:22
Totally agree with comment #1 - if the Android app is due 'soon' then why not launch properly with both of them at the same time rather than iOS then just keep delaying on Android/other platforms (as keeps happening with the main iPlayer app). The advert above is also very Apple-esque - watch out for their lawyers!
Link to this (Comment number 2)
Comment number 3.
Robert Philpot8th October 2012 - 16:59
I have not yet seen how this will affect my internet radios which I have in almost every room - even the smallest! Will they still work?
Link to this (Comment number 3)
Comment number 4.
lizzie8th October 2012 - 17:06
I listen in Greece, thru my laptop...will these changes give me a broader content (as opposed to the 'content not being available in my area') ?
Link to this (Comment number 4)
Comment number 5.
mistered58th October 2012 - 17:20
Why is a publicly funded organisation such as the BBC promoting Apple's products above other companies?
The last data I read suggests that the iPhone's market share is around 20% of the smartphone market which is similar to Blackberry's share yet there are no plans for a Blackberry app. When twice as many people own an Android, why are they not the first app introduced?
I have no idea what is wrong with the current mobile internet radio system that is being replaced; something that doesn't appear to have been explained in the blog.
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Comments 5 of 129