What's the Difference Between Podcast Downloads, Listens, and Followers?

how to understand what different analytics mean

A question many podcasters ask is what's the difference between podcast downloads, listens, and followers? So here’s a simple breakdown.

Podcast Downloads

For a download, it depends on whether the platform is IAB Certified or not. The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) is the industry standard for podcast analytics and measurement. When it comes to a download, this means:

• If a hosting platform is IAB Certified, a download is when someone presses play on an app or web player and listens for at least 60 seconds, or downloads enough data to their device to listen back for at least 60 seconds afterwards

• If a host isn't IAB Certified, or is IAB Compliant (different guidelines than being certified), then they may use the IAB guidelines as a starting point but have a different way of reporting/measuring analytics

It's why you tend to find podcasters that move from a non-certified host to a certified one (or when a previously non-certified host receives certification) will see downloads usually dropping. It can be jarring to see but does offer more accuracy, especially when you look at unique listeners for these downloads (this is based on someone listening to your show at a specific IP address, listening on a specific device, during a specific reporting timeframe).

You can see which hosting companies are fully IAB Certified here.

Podcast Listens

Spotify for Podcasters (the reporting dashboard) and Podcasts Connect (Apple's podcaster dashboard) has slightly different metrics.

• Spotify has Starts (0 seconds and over) and Streams (anything for at least 60 seconds, so closer to the IAB definition)

• Podcasts Connect has Plays (greater than 0 seconds) and Engaged Listeners (listened to at least 20 minutes or 40% of an episode within a single session)

These metrics - the Streams and Engaged Listeners - are a good measurement of actual listeners. This is because you can have a download that isn't listened to (auto-download on a podcast app, a bot, etc), so metrics around actual listen time are more valuable.

It's why you have the likes of average consumption on Apple Podcasts, consumption hours on Spotify for Podcasters, and why we offer consumption percentage at Captivate (aff. link), where I'm Head of Podcaster Support & Experience. These stats show you how much of an episode is being listened to, where drop of is happening, etc, so you can then look to see why and then optimize your content based on that data.

Podcast Followers

Followers are what used to be subscribers, and it's listeners who have moved from just listening, to now "subscribing" so they get each new episode when it's released. It’s these followers that are usually responsible for release day spikes in your analytics when a new episode drops - they either have auto-download switched on, or listen either as soon as an episode is released, or shortly after.

Followers, much like listens, are two metrics you want to be looking at when it comes to how your podcast is growing.

So I hope that’s helped clear up any confusion around the definitions. Until the next time, happy podcasting!