What is Spotify really measuring?

What is Spotify really measuring?

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This article is at least a year old

  • What do your Spotify stats actually say? Blubrry’s Todd Cochrane comments on the New Media Show that they measure “listens”, not downloads, and that someone just needs to listen for 30 seconds to count.

UPDATE: He’s wrong. Spotify measures “starts”, roughly similar to downloads, and “streams”, which measure listens for longer than 60 seconds (the IAB v2 standard).

We’ve updated our article on how to understand podcast statistics further with Spotify’s clarification, which is behind a login wall only available to Spotify partners.

We regret the error.

  • The Apple Watch now includes a podcast app. Here’s how to use it. (Anyone want to send us some pictures of Podnews playing on it?)

  • Overcast has also had an update. It now supports the Apple Watch and has had a redesign. Of particular note: it highlights when a podcast is daily or weekly. (And as of now, so do we.)

  • Is the podcast bubble bursting? asks the Columbia Journalism Review. Yes, of course the podcasting bubble is bursting, responds Blerg Magazine.


    Aug 6 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.

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