BBC Removed its Podcasts from Google

BBC posted information that explains why its podcasts are no longer available on certain Google products. This includes the Google Podcast app and Google assistant. The post was written by Director, BBC Distribution & Business Development, Kieran Clifton.

Last year, Google launched its own podcast app for Android users – they’ve also said they will launch a browser version for computers soon. Google has since begun to direct people who search for a BBC podcast into its own podcast service, rather than BBC Sounds or other third party services, which reduces people’s choice – an approach the BBC is not comfortable with and has consistently expressed strong concerns about. We asked them to exclude the BBC from this specific feature but they have refused.

The BBC is a public service funded by the license fee payers in the UK. As such, the BBC wants their content and services to be available to as many people as possible. But, the BBC has to ensure that the availability of their content is done in a way that is good for all audiences.

The BBC wants to make sure podcasts made in, and championing in the UK, are prominent on global platforms. It also wants to make sure their programs and services as good as they can possibly be,which means getting hold of meaningful audience data.

The BBC says, “Unfortunately, given the way the Google podcast services operates, we can’t do any of the above.”