Which sources are counted in Analytics? I want to have an over all result

Podlove Publisher Analytics
1

Hello,

I could not find an explanation to these questions:

  • Are all podcast downloads and plays that are catched from my feed counted automatically in Podlove Analytics?
  • If a source like Spotify downloads the episodes and hosts them on their servers - it’s not counted?
  • Do you know if iTunes and Google Podcasts host on their own servers?
  • If yes, is there a time saving option to count automatically? At the moment I visit all my podcast platforms and count manually.

Thank you!

2

Yes, every download is counted – it does not matter if it came via feed or web player. Tracking cannot distinguish between downloads and plays.

If a 3rd party directory rehosts the audio file, the Publisher has no technical way of tracking downloads.

Apple/iTunes provides the original file URLs to listeners. I haven’t checked on Google Podcasts.

No. In theory, if 3rd party directories provide an API, we could collect all analytics in one place. But if they don’t, then no.

Be aware that you cannot add up all numbers from all platforms. For example, as Apple Podcast does not rehost their files, download numbers are counted by both Apple and Podlove Publisher.

3

Thank you! :blush:

4

There is a Podcast Delivery Specification PDF from Spotify. It sounds like they download the files and host them on their servers after optimising them. So, you probably have to add them to the podlove analytics. I contacted Spotify support about it to get some more details. They are usually very fast and kind.

There you go:

Quote -->
Spotify uses HTTP to download entire podcasts, including all image, audio and metadata files, for all episodes directly from the same Internet source as being used for the online presence i.e. there is no need to set up a separate delivery or change the formats to allow a podcast to be added to Spotify.
Once a podcast is subscribed to, Spotify will check the feed URL for any metadata change several times per hour. If Spotify recognizes a change between what is available at the source and what is available in the Spotify catalog a new download will be made, fully replacing the earlier download with the changed information. This also applies for takedowns where removing the podcast is a signal for Spotify to unpublish parts, or the full podcast depending on what was removed in the metadata. Worth noting that only changing the image or audio binaries will not change the files at Spotify; Unless these files change name and/or path in the metadata, no new download will be made by Spotify.
In the normal case the podcast playout is handled by Spotify who ensures the audio and images are optimized for streaming performance on all podcast capable clients on different network bandwidths.
Allow for at least an hour for any change at the source to make its way through to the clients.

1 Like
5

Thank you, cmock!