New BBC News podcast for Asia

The team behind the wildly popular Global News Podcast from the BBC have announced a new Asia-focused news show. The podcast, which will also be available in video on YouTube, will be called Asia Specific, and is slated to start within the next few months, according to the BBC’s Siobhán Leahy who announced the new podcast at Podcast Day Asia in Jakarta earlier today. Co-presented by Mariko Oi, it’ll be produced in the BBC’s Singapore bureau.

The Radioinfo Asia Podcast Awards were also announced at Podcast Day Asia. The people’s vote for the podcast of the year was Joseph Ask, from SPH Media. The country of Singapore made the most entries; there were eighty finalists overall.

If you combine advertising on both podcasts and streaming audio, you can reach 85% of all US listeners, according to Podscribe’s Q2/25 Performance Benchmark Report. The data also says that iPhone users convert 30% better than Android users - with Apple Podcasts being the leading app for visitor and conversion rates.