What are Podcast Download Statistics and Why Do You Need Them?
Podcast Media Download Statistics, more commonly referred to as “podcast stats,” track how many times your podcast episode is downloaded, where it is downloaded from, on which devices/platforms, when, etc. Why do you need podcast stats? Why do you need a speedometer, gas gauge, or an odometer (or GPS) in your car? So you know how fast you’re traveling, how far away you are from your destination, when you need to refuel, and other such considerations. Similarly, podcast stats tell you how your content is performing, when/where/how it’s being consumed, and — over time — shows trends and patterns of behavior. ALL of which you should be using to build your audience and improve your podcast.
How To Analyze Podcast Download Statistics
Data. Data alone is great. Geography, devices, apps, platforms, when, & which episodes are popular. Blubrry’s Podcast Download Statistics platform is one of the most robust, accurate, and stable podcast stats platform available today. In fact, some of our original algorithms (from 2006!) are still in use today. And a lot goes into determining what counts as a download and what doesn’t which was just validated by IAB Auditors in our bid for IAB Certification. Some deep dives during that audit process have led us to highly recommend some guidelines we’ve developed to help you get the most accurate podcast stats. But data alone is only half the battle. You also need to develop your sense of intuition.
Data + Intuition = Podcast Stats Awesomeness.
Podcast download statistics alone aren’t enough. Sacrilege and blasphemy, seeing as how we are purveyors of podcast media download statistics, right? Wrong. We want to make sure you know how to get the most out of the powerful podcasting tools we build for you. Data alone is like buying the ingredients for a cake: if you don’t follow a recipe and put the ingredients together in the right way, you could end up with… well, with something gross. So, how can you become the Julia Childs of podcast stats? A few simple tips will help get you on your way.
- Know your platform. Click. Poke around. Read the Podcast Media Download Statistics FAQs. Learn the tool inside and out so you know how best to use it. There is a fantastic demo of our Podcast Stats platform available as well. And, as always, Blubrry customers receive complimentary phone and/or video chat support from real live humans, so don’t be shy. Reach out and say hello, we’d love to help.
- Wondering is wonderful. Put your two-year-old-you hat on: your favorite question was probably “why?” Why is the sky blue? Why do birds sing? Why? Why? Why? Similarly, as a podcaster reviewing your podcast stats, you should always wonder why: why did 20% more people download my most recent episode? Why was there a sudden drop off in Ohio? Wow! Most of my audience is on Android… I wonder why?
- Don’t hyperventilate, hypothesize. Seeing a trend? Whether it’s up or down, don’t freak out. Take a step back, ask yourself why this might be the case, and come up with some hypotheses — ideas to explain what you’re observing.
- Testing, testing. Once you’ve wondered and hypothesized, it’s time to test. What are some things you could test? Could you run a very targeted social ad campaign to your Ohio audience (you can geo-target both paid and non-paid posts on Facebook, so you don’t necessarily have to spend money)? Could you do a follow-up blog post (see our post on repurposing podcast content) on a similar topic, but make it more immediately relevant? Could you ask your audience for input?
- Use demographic data you have collected through the free Blubrry Audience Survey tool to help complete the picture of your audience makeup.
There are certainly more things to keep in mind when analyzing your podcast media download stats. But we wanted to get a few of the high-level, most impactful tips up. How do you analyze your podcast stats? Any tips you’d like to share? Let us know!