Navigating the Maze: Understanding Podcast Statistics
In the ever-evolving world of podcasts, success isn’t just about the content which you produce; it’s also about how many people are consuming it and taking learnings from the most successful ones to create even more engaging content. Yet, delving into podcast statistics is no easy feat – it can often be rather ambiguous with each platform reporting differently. So, where to start when looking at podcast stats?
Decoding Podcast Terminology
Podcast Show: A podcast series comprising multiple episodes centred around a common theme or subject.
Podcast Episode: Individual instalments within a podcast series, each featuring specific content or topics.
Podcast Provider: The platform or service through which a podcast is distributed, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts.
Understanding Key Metrics
Downloads vs. Listens vs. Streams: A download merely signifies the retrieval of an episode, regardless of whether it’s been heard. A listen, play or stream, on the other hand, confirms that the play button has been pressed.
Subscribers: These listeners have opted to follow your podcast through a specific channel, such as Spotify or Apple Podcasts – so you would find subscriber numbers separately wherever the podcast is being listened to.
Listeners per Episode: This metric reflects your content’s performance and can help guide you in deciding what to put on your next podcasts.
Listeners’ Location: Identifying geographic popularity helps tailor content to either get listeners from further afield or to make these users more engaged.
Average Listening Time: Understanding the average time listeners engage with episodes guides the ideal episode length to maintain audience engagement.
Where to Fetch Stats
Your Podcast Host: The host of your podcast should have insights available. It is worth taking note that these have been known to overinflate listener numbers to encourage the podcast to continue using them for hosting.
Podcast Provider Platforms: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and similar apps provide detailed consumption data but are restricted to their respective platforms.
Third-party Services: Services like OP3, Podtrac, or Spotify Ad Analytics might offer comparable data with broader insights – although these are usually paid for services.
Podcast hosts and podcast platforms measure downloads and listens differently, and it therefore comparisons between them have to take this into consideration. And while podcast apps platforms provide a lot of data, they’re limited to just their platforms.
What to do with the podcast stats?
Understanding podcast statistics isn’t just about crunching numbers; it’s about unravelling the story they tell. Which episodes are popular? What location is the the listener audience? How long are the users listening for? With a clearer understanding of these metrics and their intricacies, podcasters can shape their content strategies and engage with their audience more effectively.
