MUMBAI: California-based Apple announced that the amount of podcast subscribers within the iTunes store has reached a whopping one billion.

The company stated from comedy to hard news to sports to innovative educational content and so much more, podcasting has transformed the global media landscape.

Apple stated that those billion subscriptions are spread across 250,000 unique podcasts in more than 100 languages. 8 million episodes have been published in the iTunes Store till date.

There was a special promotion that appeared on the iTunes podcasts directory to commemorate the big number. On June 2005, podcasting was launched formally in iTunes 4.9.This service is available in 155 countries through iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch or on Apple TV, Mac and PC.

Apple is celebrating this achievement on the iTunes Store with a special section in the Podcasts category with the podcast titles like 60 Minutes, NBC Nightly News and podcasts from NPR, WNYC, Kevin Smith, and Chris Hardwick.

Some ranked programmes in podcast Welcome to Night Vale, This American Life, The Nerdist, and several NPR programmes.