What have Ricky Gervais, Chris Moyles and three french maids have in common?

Well according to the Guardian they were top of the iTunes podcast chart last week.

In less than two years podcasting has gone from the periphery of the internet to a mainstream digital platform, exploited by newspapers, broadcasters and amateur web enthusiasts.

Gervais's weekly show on Guardian Unlimited has been downloaded more than 2m times, while the best of Moyles' Radio 1 breakfast show was downloaded nearly half a million times last month.

Radio shows account for a third of the top 30 podcasts, six of them from the BBC. Comedy podcasts dominate, making up half of the top 30, from spoof President Bush speeches to Howard Stern and The Simpsons.

The Daily Telegraph's podcast is at 66, 37 places behind the Sun. Unlike the Sun, whose offering comprises a speech by Tony Blair and a Steve Coogan interview, the Telegraph offers a daily package of news and comment, presented and edited by former Radio 5 Live presenter Guy Ruddle.

meanwhile

The BBC's podcasting trial of 20 of its radio shows was due to end last year, but has been extended until the end of June with another 30 programmes made available. "The audience response has been staggering," says Simon Nelson, controller of BBC Radio and Music Interactive.

Via the Media Guardian

And have a read of Jeff Jarvis nattering on about podcasting

Comments

[Henry Peise]

I definitely see why Apple want to skip this step and move directly to streaming media, but white iphone 4 not there yet