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Music streaming service Spotfy is planning a new daily soap opera podcast to rival The Archers.
The Radio 4 drama set in the fictional town of Ambridge is still the BBC’s most popular audio show after 70 years.
Spotify’s daily drama series could launch as early as next year, although details on the project are yet to be confirmed.
But a 2021 launch could put the 70th anniversary celebrations on hold as the broadcaster plans a special series of programs in January to mark the show’s seventh decade.
The Archers, a Radio 4 drama set in the fictional town of Ambridge, is the BBC’s most popular audio show
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The soap opera marks its 70th anniversary in 2021, making it the longest-running drama in the world
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The shift to drama is part of Spotify’s attempts to branch out away from music and drive listeners away from other popular streaming services like Apple.
This has seen Spotify make a concerted effort to expand into podcasts, an area that has seen them invest millions in recent years.
The new fictional drama series was revealed by a member of podcast production company Gimlet Media, which Spotify bought last year for $ 230 million.
Gimlet’s chief content officer Lydia Polgreen opened up about her soap opera plans in an interview with tech website Recode, reports The Times.
She said: “I’m really interested in a daily fiction podcast. I think there’s a lot of room for a short-form, soap opera-style fictional podcast that takes place in an interesting location.
“I’ve spent a lot of time on fiction because I feel like it’s a place where there’s a ton of room for innovation.
The Archers first premiered on the BBC in 1950, and “The Daily History of Country Folk” remains as popular today as it was 70 years ago.
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The BBC plans to mark the achievement next month with a series of Ambridge specials to commemorate the anniversary
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“We’ve had a lot of success with fiction at Gimlet, and we want to build on that.
The Archers first premiered on the BBC in 1950, and “The Daily History of Country Folk” remains as popular today as it was 70 years ago.
The show was last year’s most popular audio-on-demand show, reports The Times, with 49 million downloads in 2019.
The broadcaster has now aired over 19,000 episodes, making the show the longest-running drama in the world.
The BBC plans to mark this achievement next month with a series of specials from Ambridge to commemorate the 70th anniversary.
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