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. Here are some of the most common questions we hear from other podcasters:
Why are Castos Analytics different from Apple Podcasts?
Apple Podcasts gives you data on one small aspect of your show's total listenership. Even if Apple Podcasts (formerly iTunes) is the largest single listening source for your podcast for many shows this doesn't even make up half of their total listenership in terms of platform/apps. Other third party tools like Overcast and Pocket Casts as well as platforms like Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify all have a growing number of listeners each month.
So, while your data from Apple Podcasts may be (for instance) 200 listens for a given episode, but your Castos Analytics says that you've had 800 listens it is because your audience is consuming your show on different platforms and mobile apps in addition to Apple Podcasts.
Castos Analytics gives you listenership insight across your podcast from every listening source, not just one platform or tool.
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 iTunes) and has either been downloaded or streamed.
Currently, a restriction of podcasting technology is that there is no way to tell across all platforms how long someone is listening if they are streaming an episode, or even if they downloaded the episode how long they listened (if at all).
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. Artificial forms of traffic (bots, crawlers, spiders) online are relatively easy to tell apart from "normal" traffic to your media files, and as a result, we exclude this artificial traffic from your analytics. This gives you a much more accurate representation of actual human listeners to your podcast.