In this episode, we will be talking about podcasting analytics, what are the important data points you need to look at, and how you can measure the success of your podcast.
I had got 2 questions regarding analytics, a few weeks back and I thought of putting together this episode to answer those questions.
If you too have any questions, you can pop into my Instagram DM and send over your questions. I would like to create an episode just for you.
But before we get into these questions and my response to them, here’s a word of caution.
Statistics and especially Podcasting analytics can be a demotivator. 80-85% of people look at these data, get demotivated, and quit creating episodes.
But what they don’t realize is the fact that the data was the same for even the best podcast in the world, when they started off.
It is with consistency and persistency that they have reached where they are.
So, my recommendation is to not look at data until you have about 30-35 episodes out there. Then start looking at data once every 10 episodes are released.
This will give you the required window to gather enough data points and also do a review of where you need to change or, improve.
Now onto the questions and their responses.
Podcasting Analytics – Measuring the success of your show!
The first question that I received was – Which is better: Downloads or, Listens and what should you be tracking?
I had answered this question in my newsletter – The Loudspeaker, as well. BTW, if you haven’t subscribed to the newsletter till now, then you can do it right away for FREE before it becomes a paid newsletter.
“Downloads” is a measure of the unique file requests made in order to download it. This metric implies that downloading a file essentially means that the user will listen to it.
But then there were apps that had a feature of “automatic downloads”. And in these cases, the file would get downloaded but the user necessarily did not listen to the audio.
It was to get over this issue, that the concept of “Listens” was introduced.
A “Listen” is counted by the number of times the play button is pressed on every directory. Some also say that a “listen” is counted only if the audio is played for 5 seconds though there isn’t any confirmed reports or, updates about the same.
Spotify has a completely different way of measuring their podcast engagement. This is one of the reason why most podcast hosting platforms show Spotify stats as another line-item. Something you want to keep in mind is that for a listen to be counted as a “Listen”, Spotify requires it to be played for at least 60 seconds.
So which one is better?
There is no better or, worse in this. While both are almost the same, most established platforms measure downloads even today and so do most providers in the Western countries.
You wouldn’t really have a choice to pick this or, that unless your hosting provider gives you access to both metrics.
So my recommendation is to not break your head on what to go with. Instead, just go with whatever your hosting provider provides you with.
Podcasting Analytics Accuracy and What to measure
The 2nd question that I received was – How accurate is the analytics we see and is there a way to check on podcast engagement and reach?
Analytics and data availability has always been a point of discussion in podcasting. But the fact of the matter is that, as a creator, you do not need to get into too much data and face what we call analysis paralysis.
Analytics is a necessary evil, at least in Podcasting.
Because I have seen it doing a lot of bad to podcasters as much as it can help you grow.
So I recommend that you only use as much analytics as is required. And you do not need a lot of those.
Here are 4 things that you need to refer to, according to me –
- Listen or, Downloads
- Number of unique listeners
- Number of subscribers
- Listens per episode
I guess that should be good enough from a performance standpoint.
So far as the accuracy is concerned, we shouldn’t have a reason to doubt the accuracy. But having said that, you will never be able to solidly and confidently say that as well, unless you have something like Google Analytics to measure the performance.
Chartable is a good option if you want to measure your stats but with their acquisition by Spotify, it remains to be seen how they change.
Now, another important aspect is demographics. If your host provides you with that data then nothing like it. But again, am not aware of a host that provides that kind of detailed data. Also, the accuracy is still something we might not be sure about.
So use the data that is being provided to you by your host and once again, don’t bury yourself in the analytics. And start looking at and consuming the numbers only once you have at least 30 episodes out there.
Thank You for Joining
Thank you all for joining me on this episode.
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