Understanding podcast downloads

Understanding the metrics used in podcasting is key to evaluating the performance of your show and making data-driven decisions. Two terms you’ll frequently encounter are downloads and listens. While they may sound similar, they have distinct meanings and implications.

Here's a breakdown to help you understand the difference and what each metric tells you about your audience.

Downloads

A download refers to the successful delivery or transfer of a podcast episode file to a listener’s device. This can occur through manual downloads, automatic downloads via subscriptions, or progressive downloads during streaming. Downloads are tracked using server logs, which capture valid requests for podcast files. These logs are analyzed to ensure accuracy by filtering out:

• Pre-load requests from apps.
• Bots and other invalid traffic.
• Duplicate requests from the same user in a set time frame.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has established guidelines to standardize what qualifies as a download: a unique request for a podcast episode, including complete file downloads and partial or progressive downloads where at least 60 seconds of audio is retrieved.

Important Note: A download only confirms that the file has been delivered to a device. It does not guarantee that the listener actually played the episode.

How Downloads Are Counted

Aligning with the IAB standards, here's downloads are counted to help you get a clearer picture of your audience’s engagement:

• One Download per Device: Each time someone starts listening to an episode on a device, it counts as one download. If they start and stop the same episode multiple times on the same device, it still counts as one download. This prevents inflated numbers from repeated plays.
• Switching Devices: If a listener switches to a different device to continue listening, each device counts as a separate download. This helps track unique listeners accurately.
• Filtering Out Incomplete or Duplicate Requests: Partial requests and duplicate entries are ignored to ensure only genuine downloads are counted, making the numbers more reliable.
• Tracking IP Addresses: We exclude duplicate IP combinations to avoid counting multiple downloads from the same source, enhancing accuracy by effectively filtering out duplicates.

Listens

A listen, on the other hand, refers to actual consumption of podcast content, when a listener actively plays the episode. Tracking listens is more complex because most podcast apps and platforms do not send playback data back to the hosting provider. Without client-side analytics, it’s difficult to confirm whether a downloaded file was played, partially played, or skipped entirely.

Some specialized platforms or apps may report playback data (such as Spotify or YouTube), but this is not an industry-wide standard. As a result, most podcast measurement relies on downloads as a proxy for listens.

On top of that, the term listen is often used interchangeably with “stream” or “play” and refers to the actual consumption of a podcast episode by a listener. Unlike downloads, listens focus on user engagement and playback behavior. However, it’s important to note that because of the lack of standardization, different platforms may have varying criteria for what constitutes a listen, leading to inconsistencies in measurement.

Important Note: If you want to know more about how other platforms like (such as Spotify, Apple, or YouTube) track and report plays, stream, or listeners, and how they differ from IAB standards, please, check this guide.

Key Differences Between Downloads and Listens

Different actions and user behaviors can trigger a download but might not necessarily mean that a user has listened to it. To illustrate the difference between listens and downloads, some practical examples might help:

For instance:

• A listener may download an episode but not play it immediately (or at all).
• Someone might partially download an episode while streaming it online.
• Downloads can happen in the background when listeners subscribe to your podcast on platforms like Apple Podcasts.

While both downloads and listens are valuable metrics in podcasting, they serve different purposes. Downloads provide a measure of how often content is delivered to devices, reflecting potential audience size. Listens, though less standardized, offer insights into actual content consumption and listener engagement.

For a comprehensive understanding of a podcast’s performance, it’s important to consider both metrics in conjunction with other data points.

A True Global Overview

RSS.com provides industry-leading analytics to podcasters. Our analytics follow state-of-the-art industry guidelines to measure podcast metrics.

Here’s how our analytics service works:

• Data Collection: When a listener downloads an episode via platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Amazon Music, they leave a footprint in our system through a “log.” These logs include data such as the IP address (used to determine geolocation), device and operating system used, and specific files downloaded.
• Automatic Processing: We have automatic processes in place to continuously process, analyze, and distribute data extracted from our logs. This data is provided to our users via the Analytics tab in the podcast Dashboard.
• Metrics and Insights: Some metrics are straightforward calculations (e.g., total downloads), while others (e.g., Rolling Average Subscribers or RAS) are statistical inferences based on certain assumptions.

This is to say that since we host your podcast episodes, we measure downloads across all podcasting platforms. For example, if you receive 50 downloads from Google Podcasts and 50 from Apple Podcasts, our analytics will show a total of 100 downloads. Only RSS.com analytics account for the full picture.

This information allows you to assess the overall performance of your podcast, including your RAS and listener geolocation. For example, you can use your RAS to identify patterns that can help you maximize the reach of your show, such as peak downloads by weekdays and hours. Or create region-specific content targeting your most engaged cities.

For more detailed information on podcast measurement standards, refer to the IAB’s Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines.