Podcasts, Radio, TV, Books, Cycling, Photography and More
-
RAJAR MIDAS Report – Summer 2024
[UPDATE – 2 October: After I asked a question about the Need States chart, RAJAR published a revised version of the Podcast chart, and this is now included below.] RAJAR has just published a summary of its Summer 2024 MIDAS report. The research was carried out amongst 2,048 previous RAJAR respondents across two weeks in…
-
Sports Numberwang
I’m really only posting this, because I spent a bit too much time putting together a Thread of a response to a clickbait-y post about the major sporting events’ viewerships. I really shouldn’t rise to the bait, but… The Threads algorithm threw up this post. (A reminder that “Verified” just means someone who is willing…
-
Peak TV vs Peak TV
If you Google “Peak TV”, the first search result is a Wikipedia article called “Golden Age of Television (2000s-present)” It reflects an era that started a little earlier with series like HBO’s The Wire and NBC’s The West Wing, but obviously carried on through the early 2000s, and broadly speaking, continues to this day. The…
-
Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold
I am a complete sucker for climbing films, documentaries and series. I’ve never actually done any climbing. Most of my walks in the mountains have been exactly that – walks. I’ve watched docs like Touching the Void and The Alpinist, and seen dramas such as The Eiger Sanction and of course, Cliffhanger. I’ve also seen…
-
Rebundling Sports in the US
Interesting news in the US, where Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and Fox have announced a new as-yet-unnamed streaming service that will combine all their sports offerings into a single subscription. Combining the resources of ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPNews, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV and ESPN+ into a single…
-
The End of the Podcast Exclusive?
In the last week or so, two of the biggest podcasts deals around have been renewed. Smartless has moved away from Amazon/Wondery to SiriusXM Media in a “multi-year” deal said to be worth $100m. While SiriusXM members will get early, ad-free access to the title, everyone else will still be able to listen on RSS.…
-
RAJAR Q4 2023
This post is brought to you in association with RALF from DP Software and Services. I’ve used RALF for the many years, and it’s my favourite RAJAR analysis tool. So I am delighted that I continue to be able to bring you this RAJAR analysis in association with RALF. For more details on the product, contact Deryck Pritchard via…
-
Past Lives
I was making a list recently of all the new-ish films that I needed to catch up on. I was also trying to work out which film was on what streaming service. Past Lives was a problem, because it didn’t seem to be in any of the usual places (Mubi, BFI Player), but in Fopp…
-
Three TV Classics Still Not Available To Stream
There is, of course, an endless list of shows and films that are not available to stream on any platform. But I wanted to examine three series, all dating from the mid-eighties to mid-nineties that are still not available in the UK, but some of which have been appearing in the US. Last autumn Moonlighting…
-
Edison Podcast Metrics UK – Top 25 Q3 2023
Edison Research has just released their Top 25 shows for Q3 2023 from Edison Podcast Metrics. This follows their initial Top 25 for Q2 2023, released last September. Rank Podcast Producer Up/Down 1 The Joe Rogan Experience Joe Rogan – 2 The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett The Diary of a CEO –…
-
The Festive 500 and the Cycling and Running Year Just Gone
In recent years, the Festive 500 seems to have become a little divisive. Sponsored by cycle clothing company Rapha, the Festive 500 is a challenge, largely undertaken using Strava, for cyclists to complete a total of 500km of riding between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. That’s eight days to ride an average of 62.5km…
-
The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett
I’m not quite sure why I’ve not read one Janice Hallett’s books yet. Her 2021 book, The Appeal won lots of awards, and then her follow-up The Twyford Code won more. She’s also since published The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels. And now comes, The Christmas Appeal hot on its heels. This short book…
-
Number Go Up by Zeke Faux
Earlier in the autumn, there were two major new books (well at least two) examining to a greater of lesser extent, the story of Sam Bankman-Fried, who was to end up being found guilty on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. One was Going Infinite by Michael Lewis. I tend to love Lewis’ books, as…
Hadrian’s Wall
Check out some of my other photography
