How Castos Analytics Work
Listener analytics are a big part of everyone's podcast. Whether your show is a hobby project, for your business/brand, or you have sponsors that rely on this data we know that getting the right data to you at the right time is paramount for you to run a successful show.
But especially if you're new to podcasting you might have some questions about how Castos Analytics work.
At Castos, we follow the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) Podcast Measurement Guidelines . This means we:
- Exclude preload requests - this is where an app/website preloads a chunk of audio even though the listener never actually presses play.
- Exclude 2 byte range requests - used by some apps to determine if byte range request is supported
- Exclude known bots, data centers, VPN traffic, or other non-human sources - These are regularly updated but it's possible illegitimate gets through before it becomes "known".
- Exclude Apple Watch listens - these are duplicates of Apple Podcasts listens
- Exclude downloads that do not transfer at least a minutes worth of file data - If a listener starts an episode and listens for 10 seconds but stops, we do not count this. If they press play again and listen to at least minute of the episode, it would be counted.
- Exclude listens from the same IP and same User Agent within a 24-hour period - This is likely the same person starting/stopping/restarting the episode. We don't want to count that multiple times.
- Exclude Malformed User Agents - Malformed User Agents can be a red flag of someone trying to mimic a legitimate User Agent and pass illegitimate traffic as authentic.
Here are some of the most common questions we hear from other podcasters:
Why are Castos Analytics different from my Apple Podcasts or Spotify provided Analytics?
Analytics provided directly by the podcast app like Apple Podcasts or Spotify may differ from the counts Castos provide because they may count a listen/download differently than we do. As the creator of their respective apps, they have access to unique user data/behavior that is not shared with podcast hosts. You can read about Apple Podcasts Analytics and Spotify Analytics.
How can I tell whether someone downloads or streams an episode?
In the podcasting world when it comes to analytics there isn't a great way to discern between streaming events and downloads. When Castos Analytics reports a "Listen" it is that the file has been requested by a mobile app, web browser, or platform (like Apple Podcasts) and has either been downloaded or streamed.
Unlike other media platforms like YouTube (where all of the content is managed under a centralized platform), the very nature of podcasting is that it is distributed and as such once a file is downloaded from our servers it is essentially "gone" from our ability to track what happens after that time. The following video includes additional details:
Do listens on my Castos podcast pages or WordPress site count towards my Castos Analytics numbers?
Yes, absolutely. Castos Analytics is drawn straight from our servers that deliver the media files for your show. When someone plays an episode in a player or downloads a file it counts as a Listen, regardless of where that Listen comes from.
Do you filter out bots and crawlers from our analytics numbers?
Yes we do. While we are not yet certified, we follow the IAB Guidelines (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and automatically exclude downloads that originate from known from known bots, data centers, VPN traffic, or other non-human sources