Downloads vs Audience - what’s the difference?
Most podcasters we talk to say, sure, they understand the difference between Downloads and Audience when first asked. But when asked to describe that difference many realize they aren’t as clear on the difference as they thought.
Check your understanding against these definitions:
Downloads are the measure of how many times your show’s episodes are listened to. Downloads reported by Podtrac include both file downloads to a device as well as streaming delivery of podcast audio.
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 are listening to your show each month. Audience is also sometimes called “reach,” referring to how many people you are reaching with your show.
So for example, if you publish your podcast 4 times a month and I download every episode, I will count as 4 Downloads but just once towards Audience.
How to Use Downloads
Your 30-Day Download number tells you how much traffic your show sees in a month and can be considered the total monthly “inventory” for your show. If you are selling ads then Downloads are what you have to sell (your inventory) and what you will use to price your show and the deliverable you will give to advertisers. If you are tracking your show’s growth, use the % change in 30-Day Downloads (found on the Show Overview report) to monitor whether or not your show is growing over time and by how much. The bigger the % change the better.
How to Use Audience
The 30-Day Audience number tells you the size of your monthly audience. Use it in conjunction with the 30-Day Download number to give you some insight into listener behavior. For example, if 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.