Unlocking Podcast Listener Data Without Being Creepy [S3E107]

Podcast Pontifications

With the fresh news that Amazon Music/Audible has quietly launched a podcasters portal, I expect they’ll soon join the ranks of Apple, Spotify, and Google Podcasts, probably disappointing podcasters when it comes to our data needs.

It blows my mind every day that in the 16+ years podcasting has existed, we still can’t answer the most basic question every podcaster wants to know: How big is my audience?

Spotify’s Podcaster Dashboard has a metric they call “Listeners”, even though it’s not listeners. It’s the number of unique users on their platform who started an episode. Apple Podcasts Connect provides “Devices”, which is a much better name, IMHO. Google Podcasts Manager, won’t tell you the total number of unique Google Podcasts users who’ve played an episode of your podcast.

I don’t know what data Amazon Music/Audible will make available on their podcaster’s portal, but it could be better. And for some of the smaller apps, making their own portal for podcasters and giving us better data could be something that sets them apart.

Because we have questions. And they have answers.

Questions like:

• Which in-app discovery channels are bringing listeners to my podcast?
• How many listeners come back for more of my podcast?
• How many of my followers swipe left and dismiss some of my episodes?
• How is my show ranking/charting?
• What’s the listener flow like for my podcast?
• What’s the demographic makeup of my podcast’s audience?

Podcasting apps aren’t markedly different from one another. But I do think the podcast listening app that gives podcasters the most useful data could get a big boost as we’d all happily promote the heck out of a listening app that gave us more insight into actual listening data.

-----

A written-to-be-read article and a full transcript of the audio of this episode can be found at https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/unlocking-podcast-listener-data-without-being-creepy

Follow @EvoTerra on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come.

Buy him a virtual coffee to show your support at BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra

And if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit Simpler.Media to see how Simpler Media Productions can help you reach your business objectives with podcasting.

Evo Terra produces Podcast Pontifications four times a week to provide ideas and ask questions every working podcaster should be thinking about.

Image credit: Immo Wegmann on Unsplash

Mentioned in this episode:

Support For Abortion Rights

While Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately, that right is no longer protected everywhere in the U.S. The Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade on June 24th. Abortion is a basic healthcare need for the millions of people who can become pregnant. Everyone should have the freedom to decide what’s best for themselves and their families, including when it comes to ending a pregnancy. This decision has dire consequences for individual health and safety, and could have harsh repercussions for other landmark decisions. Restricting access to comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion, threatens the health and independence of all Americans. Even if you live in a state where abortion rights are upheld, access to safe medical procedures shouldn’t be determined by location, and it shouldn't be the privilege of a small few. You can help by donating to local abortion funds. To find out where to donate for each state, visit donations4abortion.com. If you or someone you know needs help, or if you want to get more involved, here are 5 resources: 1. ShoutYourAbortion.com is a campaign to normalize abortion. 2. DontBanEquality.com is a campaign for companies to take a stand against abortion restrictions. 3. Abortion.cafe has information about where to find clinics. 4. PlanCPills.org provides early at-home abortion pills that you can keep in your medicine cabinet. 5. Choice.CRD.co has a collection of these resources and more. We encourage you to speak up! And spread the word.

This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy
Podsights - https://podsights.com/privacy