When it comes to tracking performance of your podcast there are a lot of metrics to consider. The Key Metrics report focuses on the five key metrics that are most important to understanding your show’s growth at the top level and it displays them for each of your shows on one screen.
It’s designed to give you a quick status report on how your podcast or network is doing right now. You will want to check it often as the metrics are based on rolling 30- Day data and will update every day.
Here are the 5 Key Podcast Metrics and how to use them:
#1 - All-Time Downloads
What it is: The total number of times your show has been downloaded (Global Downloads) across all of your show’s episodes from the point in time when you began measuring with Podtrac. Podtrac can’t see traffic to your show before the time you added the redirect. Downloads reported by Podtrac include both file downloads to a device as well as streaming delivery of podcast audio.
Why it’s important: We would consider this the least important metric on this page - more of a vanity metric. We’ve included it here because it is your biggest number and it is always fun to see how your show has grown over time, but it doesn’t have a lot of meaning without understanding more details about the show, e.g. show frequency, number of episodes, how long the show has been publishing, etc.
How to use it: We often hear podcasters cite All-time Downloads as in “we just hit 1 million downloads!” While it can be fun to share a large number with your audience and it feels good to see a number that is always growing, just keep in mind that on it’s own it isn’t really telling you anything about your show. As long as you have episodes available (whether you published new ones or not) this number will continue to grow.
#2 - Average 7-Day Downloads per Episode
What it is: The Average 7-Day Downloads per Episode is the average Global downloads in the first 7 days after posting for the most recent 5 episodes with 7 days of data. Downloads reported by Podtrac include both file downloads to a device as well as streaming delivery of podcast audio.
Why it’s important: For most podcasts, 80 to 90% of total episode downloads happen in the first 7 days.
How to use it: Knowing your podcast’s average performance in the first 7 days after posting gives you a benchmark by which to judge your current episode's performance as well as an idea of the size of your show.
While there are different time-frames over which you could look at average downloads per episode, we choose 7 days over 5 episodes for this report because it gives you an average of current episodes to use to gauge your most recent episode. This lets you focus on the growth of your current episode.
If you are interested in projecting downloads for future episodes for purposes of selling ads or just understanding longer term delivery, we recommend looking at a 30-Day download average.
#3 - 30-Day Downloads
What it is: Total Global Downloads across all of your show’s episodes during the last 30 days. This number is updated every night to reflect the most recent 30 days. The month/month percentage number compares this current 30 days to the previous 30 days and lets you know if you are trending upwards or downwards over total downloads. Downloads reported by Podtrac include both file downloads to a device as well as streaming delivery of podcast audio.
Why it’s important: Downloads are the measure of how many times your show’s episodes are listened to. Your 30-Day Download number gives you an idea of the total monthly “inventory” for your show (if you are selling ads) and a good idea of how much traffic your show sees in a month.
How to use it: Use the absolute 30-Day Download number to give you a sense for the amount of traffic your show does in a month. Use the % change value to monitor whether or not your show is growing over time and by how much. The bigger the % change the better.
#4 - 30-Day Audience
What it is: Total number of Global listeners to your show across all of your show’s episodes during the last 30 days. This number is updated every night to reflect the most recent 30 days. The month/month percentage number compares this current 30 days to the previous 30 days and lets you know if you are growing your show’s audience. Audience is also sometimes called Reach referring to how many people you are reaching with your show.
Why it’s important: Audience is the measure of how many people are downloading your show. Your 30-Day Audience number gives you an idea of how many people you are reaching with your show each month.
How to use it: Use the absolute 30-Day Audience number to give you a sense for the size of your monthly audience and to give you some insight into listener behaviour. For example, if Total 30-Day Downloads is growing but 30-Day Audience is flat or decreasing, that means your existing listeners are listening to more episodes. If, on the other hand, both are growing that means you are bringing in more new people to your show.
Check the % change value often to monitor whether or not you are growing the number of people listening to your show.
#5 - Latest Episode - Downloads to Date
What it is: This section of the report lists the title and publication date of your most recent episode and displays the number of Global Downloads the episode has received to-date (through the previous day). The number updates each night and the episode switches to a new episode the day after publication. Downloads reported by Podtrac include both file downloads to a device as well as streaming delivery of podcast audio.
The “VS PREVIOUS” represents Current Episode Growth as compared to the prior episode. It is the percentage difference between the number of downloads to-date of your current episode versus the previous episode for the same number of days after publication.
Why it’s important: When you publish an episode you want to know as quickly as possible if your show is growing or if there was a possible problem in posting or distribution of the episode. The Latest Episode - Downloads to Date lets you easily and quickly see (as early as the day after publication) how it is doing compared to your last episode.
How to use it: If the Current Episode Growth number is positive you can rest assured that your episode is reaching your audience and your show is growing. If this number is negative by a lot you will want to check to make sure all your distribution channels are operating correctly. If so then you’ll want to think about why this particular episode is not resonating with your audience as well as your previous episode and then use that information to inform plans for your next episode.