How does RSS.com calculate downloads and other metrics?

Modified on Thu, 16 Nov 2023 at 03:35 PM

RSS.com Podcasting provides industry-leading analytics to podcasters. Our analytics services follow state-of-the-art guidelines in the industry to measure podcast metrics. An overview of the metrics we provide to our podcasters is available in our Knowledge Base.

Our analytics service is based on the data we collect each time we receive a download request for your show. Because we are the hosting platform, when a listener downloads one of your episodes via Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music etc... they leave a footprint in our system through a, so called, “log”.

These logs consist of data including an IP address (where we determine the geolocation of the download), device and operating system used, and which specific files were downloaded.

At RSS.com, we have automatic processes in place to continuously process, analyze, and distribute the data extracted from our logs through metrics and insights provided to our users via the Analytics tab in your podcast Dashboard.

Some of these metrics are mathematical calculations (e.g. total downloads), while others (e.g. RAS) are statistical inferences based on certain assumptions.

The most important metric of all is the number of Downloads. To calculate the number of downloads, we take a conservative approach and make sure that we filter our logs to exclude false positives which include methods to identify duplicates. This avoids inflated metrics and it is part of the technical guidelines for podcast measurement by the IAB Tech Lab.

Because we host your podcast episode, we are able to measure downloads across all podcasting platforms. For instance, if you get 50 downloads from Google Podcasts and 50 from Apple Podcasts, our analytics will show a total of 100 downloads.

This information allows you to assess the overall performance of your podcast, Your RAS (Rolling Average Subscribers), and listener geolocation. Use your RAS to identify patterns that can help you maximize the reach of your show (e.g. peak downloads by weekdays and hours).