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How to find number of subscribers

I see that iTunes/Apple doesn't provide usage stats...BUT how can we find out the number of subscribers to our podcasts?
thanks....Sandy
www.videomunchies.com

Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Posted on Jan 16, 2006 5:48 PM

Reply
11 replies

Jan 16, 2006 9:25 PM in response to sandyr

Sandy,

That will depend on what type of services you are using to host you Podcast.

If you are using libsyn.

http://www.libsyn.com

You can get very good stats on the number of unique times the show is downloaded. (Does not count duplicate downloads from the same person). and they even break it down by whether the downloads were by people subscribed to your show or direct downloads from your site.

For subscribers - most podcasters use a service from Feedburner

http://www.feedburner.com

To count the number of subscribers they have. This number is based on unique hits to your RSS feed in a 24 hour basis.

Interestingly even though they calculate differently - I see very similar numbers between the two. I actually use both services.

If you are going to use Feedburner I suggest using a redirect method if you hosting company supports apache.

http://www.podcast411.com/tut_feedburner.html

Here is a tutorial explaining how to do it.

Other wise you can just get an account with Libsyn and park your MP3 files there.

Rob @ podcast411

Jan 19, 2006 11:22 AM in response to sandyr

It all depends on your hosting server setup. For our show (www.slackerastronomy.org) we host the server ourselves so we have access to the raw web logs. If stats are important to you, then you must have access to the raw logs. You simply cannot rely on the statistics packages that many web hosts (libsyn, et al.) give. There are no standards for basic definitions like "host" (same IP address?, same subnet?, same IP within an hour?) or "hit" (any file download?, just HTML downloads?, just MP3 downloads?) or even "download" (full download?, partial download?)! Every system defines all these things differently. So I highly recommend finding a hosting company that gives you raw access to your web logs if accurate stats are important.

However, what you should be more interested in is in trends. Are your stats getting better or worse? For tracking trends the important thing is to stick with the same system. Accurate and precise numbers aren't as important as behavior over time. For this purpose, prepackaged stat solutions like libsyn work well and are easy to use.

For us, we have sponsors so we need both trend analysis and precise numbers. We use a freeware product called Analog to scan our Apache web server logs. We keep track of the numbers of unique IP address who access the XML feed at least once per 7 days and count that as a listener. This filters out one-time visitors, people who have stopped listening, etc. For specific show listeners, we only count unique IP addresses that download the entire MP3 file. We feel this gives us a solid, conservative estimate to our listener base.

Watch out for people who inflate their numbers! With liberal definitions of "download", for example we could claim twice as many listeners as we actually have.



G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4) www.slackerastronomy.org

Jan 19, 2006 4:07 PM in response to aarnop808

Actually the comment about libsyn is not accurate.

They do a really good job with the method of measuring downloads. I have taken the raw logs and compared it to their calculation and they were very close. Additionally I talked to others that did the same thing and they had similar results.

Additionally they break down downloads by subscribers and direct downloads and their subscriber number is also very close to the numbers I get from Feedburner. Again others I have talked to get similar results.

So I would say if you are with Libsyn, believe the numbers you see in the Stat package. Is in 99.999% accurate - of course not nothing is.

Rob @ podcast411

Jan 19, 2006 4:10 PM in response to PodcastingPixels.com

Feedburner is your best best. Easy, simple, and best
of all - FREE.

Christian
PodcastingPixels.com - A Visual Podcasting
Directory

Windows XP


Not sure about feedburner. I mean, it's a great service and I use it, but it conflicts with my service provider. I use http://blogmatrix.com and they provide me with subscriber stats and download stats. They are a lot more than the 7 subscribvers feedburner says.

Plus, if yo uare listed in directorys like the Podcast Pickle, people can play your episods without subscribing. So it's difficult to measure your audience.

-----
Dismay
Listen to the story of a hero saving a world he fears
Download: http://dismay.blogmatrix.com
Blog: http://dismay-podcast.blogspot.com

Jan 19, 2006 10:23 PM in response to El Nacho

Of course El Nahco:)

No, My "Total Listners or Overall Audience" is way more than my unique subscribers, because it's counting everytime someone downloads. Unique IP is the way to go, for now.

The Home Spa Goddess Show
All the latest and greatest bath, body and beauty news!

Previously On Alias...
The Podcast Devoted To All Things Alias

The GoddessCast Station
TV talk with the Home Spa Goddess - Now featuring reviews and talk about "24"

Jan 19, 2006 11:28 PM in response to sandyr

Looking at the server lofgs is the most accurate way to measure downloads. Shows are not cached on iTunes.

The users of our service at http://www.podblaze.com get full reporting stats for number of podcast show downloads. This is a true measurement.

I would also concur that feedburner is a great service. The stats are however;less that fully accurate.

Rodney Rumford

Compaq Windows XP Business Blog & Podcast Consulting

Jan 20, 2006 5:36 AM in response to Rodney Rumford

Rodney - what are you basing your statement on that the feedburner stats are less than accurate.

I have found that the number of people subscribed to my show that they report is a pretty accurate number when compared to the number of people that download my show via Libsyn, that Libsyn flags as subscribers. Additionally I have talked to many other podcasters that concur.

I think it is fine for you to pimp your service if you want - but for you undercut a great service like feedburner without giving any backup is not just wrong it is malicous. IMHO.

There are over 20,000 podcasters using feedburner for a reason.

Rob @ podcast411

How to find number of subscribers

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