Tracking analytics for your podcast consists of gathering relevant data around your show such as demographics, downloads, consumption rates, etc. You can track this data in various marketing softwares or by creating your own analytics sheet/report so you can compare weeks, months, episodes, and shows.
Now let’s get into the key question - why is tracking this data so important? We broke down three key reasons why you should be keeping track of your podcast analytics and what you can do with the information you find.
By tracking podcast analytics, you’re equipping yourself to make data-driven decisions rather than leaving it as a guessing game or just using opinion-based decision-making strategies.
When you think of the decision-making process as a pyramid, guessing would be at the very bottom as the least credible, then would come expert opinion, then data, and then finally direct responses from listeners.
As you can see, data is more credible than just guessing or opinions.
For example, imagine you’re thinking about running a Spotify Advertising campaign and you’re debating whether to run the ad with men, women, or both. Yes, you can always have an opinion on who you think your main audience is and maybe you think it’s primarily women. But when you check your podcast analytics, you may find that it’s men who are consuming your podcast.
This gives you the credible information to target men when you run your ad. But if you had gone with your opinion and targeted women, your ad may have been unsuccessful and then you’d be left wondering why.
Next up, you can receive actionable insights for your podcast. Gather insights that enable you to take action with your podcast through data you otherwise wouldn't have known could have a positive impact on your show.
For example, say you put out an episode that has a slightly different format than your normal structure. You realize that after you released it, you have nearly double the number of listeners along with a higher consumption rate on that episode compared to previous ones.
This could give you the insight that maybe you should try switching your episode structure to the new format that you just released. Or maybe a similar thing happens with the type of guest you have on your podcast or a marketing tactic that you test out.
Alternatively, it may show you what you shouldn’t be discussing on your podcast or the formats that don’t resonate with your audience.
This type of insight can truly help to better your podcast and give way to what marketing tactics will help you build your audience.
And lastly, you can use podcast data to track your podcast’s performance over time.
If you have no idea how your podcast performed in year one compared to year three then how will you know if you’re improving or declining?
Tracking podcast performance can be done weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, seasonally, or maybe it’s done episode to episode. Whatever tracking cadence makes sense for you and your show, ensure that you stick to updating the data because without it, how will you know how you’re performing?
Mackenzie Patterson is the Senior Producer & Content Strategist at Quill Inc, and a Toronto-based writer, and journalist. She's always exploring the latest movies, TV shows and wellness trends.
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