Every podcaster acknowledges that climbing to the top of the charts can significantly enhance their visibility. Achieving a high ranking not only boosts discovery but also opens doors for lucrative brand partnerships and adds to the podcaster's credibility. However, many creators find themselves in the dark regarding the various methodologies employed by platforms like Apple and Spotify to determine these rankings.
There is a prevailing consensus among industry experts that these rankings do not necessarily reflect a show’s true success or overall audience size. This sentiment highlights the murky waters surrounding podcast metrics in this rapidly growing industry, raising concerns about the potential for manipulation. Many believe that chart rankings are influenced more by sudden spikes in subscriber counts than by a show's total audience engagement.
Spotify's top podcast chart updates daily, basing its rankings on a combination of overall follower counts and the number of recent unique listeners, according to company sources. In contrast, Apple claims to refresh its charts throughout the day, taking into account listening habits, follows, and completion rates. Furthermore, YouTube, the leading platform for podcasting, introduced its own top charts in May, ranking shows weekly based on watch time.
Each podcast possesses its own first-party data, which agents can leverage alongside other metrics, such as social media following and repeat listeners, to enhance the show's marketability. However, discrepancies in how downloads, listens, or views are defined across different platforms complicate the task of accurately assessing a podcaster's popularity.
This fixation on current metrics has spurred a cottage industry where companies offer services to purchase downloads or followers. Dan Misener, co-founder of the podcast marketing firm Bumper, reports that this practice is quite common, especially among podcasters striving to climb Apple's charts. “The deeper problem within our industry around measurement is that the yardstick is broken,” Misener observes, citing that the default metrics used in podcasting create perverse incentives, compelling creators to chase downloads or followers.
Bill Simmons, head of talk strategy at Spotify and a well-known podcast host, highlights this issue as one of the most significant challenges in the podcasting realm. “I’d say some of the bigger shows are lying publicly about their deals, their podcast numbers, and even their YouTube subscribers by purchasing those subscriptions,” Simmons tells The Hollywood Reporter, expressing disbelief at the level of dishonesty prevalent in the industry.
Apple maintains that its charts consider various additional factors to ensure fairness in rankings and asserts that “altering podcasts with the sole intent of increasing chart rankings is discouraged.” However, the reliability of downloads as a key industry metric has come under scrutiny, especially as changes to Apple’s operating system negatively impact these numbers. Shows may experience unexplained fluctuations in downloads when migrating RSS feeds between hosting platforms, often due to new deals.
As podcasts increasingly shift towards video formats, the importance of views has grown. Notably, views on video episodes posted on Spotify and YouTube do not contribute to download figures, adding another layer of complexity to measuring a podcast's success. Creators are adapting by incorporating live events, securing significant brand partnerships, and exploring other avenues, all of which factor into the overall evaluation of a show’s success.
For his part, Misener advises his podcasting clients to focus on total audience engagement, playback metrics, and time spent listening to identify growth patterns effectively. As the podcasting landscape continues to evolve, understanding these metrics will be crucial for creators aiming for long-term success.
