Podcast analytics can be intimidating if you don’t fully understand the meaning behind the numbers.
However, grasping these insights is key to growing your listener base and attracting potential sponsors. Having a solid understanding of your analytics can help you leverage these metrics to enhance your podcast strategy.
As an IAB Tech Lab-certified company, RSS.com is committed to providing podcasters with accurate and reliable analytics. Our data meets the highest industry standards, empowering podcasters to make informed decisions about audience insights, sponsorships, and content strategies with confidence.
In this post, I’ll walk you through the various metrics available in your RSS.com analytics dashboard and explain how they can help you better understand your audience and grow your podcast.
Let’s dive into the world of podcast analytics!
How Is the Data Compiled?
To understand the numbers, it’s crucial to know how the data is collected.
When you set up your podcast and obtain an RSS feed address, podcast directories like Spotify and Apple Podcasts use this address to access and distribute your episodes.
For example, when someone plays an episode on Spotify, Spotify contacts RSS.com for the data, which is then compiled into your analytics tab.
Accuracy and Security
In order for your analytics to be actionable, the numbers need to be accurate.
As an IAB certified company, we ensure that all of your analytics adhere to rigorous industry standards.
Advanced Bot and Spam Filtering
RSS.com uses sophisticated filtering systems to ensure your analytics reflect genuine listener engagement. Our technology automatically identifies and excludes:
- Bot traffic from automated systems
- Spam downloads from non-genuine sources
- Duplicate requests from the same IP
- Partial downloads that don’t represent real listening intent
- Other artificial traffic patterns
This means every download, play, and listener metric you see represents a real person who chose to engage with your content.
Unlike some platforms that may inflate numbers with questionable traffic, RSS.com gives you clean, actionable data you can trust when making content decisions or presenting to potential sponsors.
Key Metrics Available in Your Podcast Analytics
Downloads
Downloads are another important metric that shows you how many times an episode has been downloaded.
You can view download data over different timeframes – last 7 days, 14 days, 30 days, 90 days, or 180 days. All times and dates are in UTC and are refreshed every 24 hours.
Rolling Average Subscribers (RAS)
The Rolling Average Subscribers (RAS) metric provides an estimate of your podcast’s follower count. This number is calculated by averaging the number of listeners in the first 24 hours over the last three episodes, helping you gauge your show’s consistent audience.
Visual Graphs
Your analytics dashboard includes visual graphs for average downloads and rolling average subscribers, which are updated hourly. These graphs provide a quick and easy way to track trends and growth over time.
Detailed Episode Insights
In the “Episodes” tab, you can see which episodes are performing well based on download data. You can sort episodes by “Newest” or “Most Downloaded” to get a clearer picture of what resonates with your audience.
Want more detailed insights for individual episodes? Click each episode title to view them.
Episode Comparison
The “Comparison” tab lets you compare the performance of any two episodes, showing data for 7, 14, 30, and 90 days after release. This feature helps you understand which content drives more engagement and why.
Apps, Directories & Browsers
This section breaks down where your podcast is being downloaded – whether on platforms like Samsung Podcasts, iTunes, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts so you know which apps are most popular with your listeners.
Top 5 Cities and Downloads by Country
Understand where your audience is listening from with insights into the top five cities and a breakdown by country. You can also view all cities and export this data as a CSV file for further analysis.
If you click on the “Show all cities” button underneath your top 5 cities, you can view all the cities that are tuning into your podcast.
Listening Trends: Time of Day and Day of the Week
Discover when your audience is most active with insights on listening habits by time of day and day of the week, allowing you to optimize your release schedule.
Devices and Platforms
Learn how your content is consumed by seeing which devices and platforms your listeners use, providing insights into where to focus your promotional efforts.
Geographic Heat Map
The geographic heat map visually displays the locations where your podcast is most popular, helping you identify key regions for targeted marketing.
Data Quality Assurance
Our analytics programming identifies and excludes invalid downloads caused by bots and crawlers, ensuring that only genuine downloads are counted. This focus on data quality provides you with actionable insights that reflect your true audience.
Interpreting the Data
It’s important to interpret your podcast analytics correctly.
Instead of focusing on daily numbers, analyze data over longer periods like weeks, months, or quarters. This broader view helps you better understand your show’s overall performance and direction, enabling you to make informed decisions about content and audience engagement strategies.
Understanding your podcast analytics is key to making informed decisions that enhance your content and audience engagement. Use these insights to grow your podcast and reach a wider audience.
For more information on RSS.com’s analytics and other features, visit our Analytics Knowledge Base here.
