A word about "listeners"

In podcasting, the word “listener” has more than one definition. This is confusing and unfortunate.

IAB Listeners

Podcast hosting companies (e.g. Simplecast, Megaphone) often display "listeners" or "unique listeners" in their dashboards. These "unique listeners" correspond to the IAB’s definition of a listener:

Listener: data that represents a single user who downloads content (for immediate or delayed consumption). Listeners may be represented by a combination of IP address and User Agent as described earlier. The listeners must be specified within a stated time frame (day, week, month, etc.).

Calling these "listeners" can be misleading. These "listeners" or "unique listeners" would be better described as "unique downloaders."

A download ≠ a listen. It is possible – and common – for user's devices to download episodes that never get played or heard.

Apple Podcasts and Spotify Listeners

Apple Podcasts Connect and Spotify for Podcasters both report "listeners" numbers.

These represent actual listening behaviour, and are a much better way to measure the number of people who spent time with an episode or show.

Apple's "listeners" correspond to unique Apple devices that have played at least one episode of a show.

Spotify's "listeners" correspond to unique Spotify user accounts that have played at least one episode of a show.

⚠️ Caution

In any conversation about podcast measurement, Bumper recommends precision and clarity about terminology. When using the word "listener," it's especially important to disambiguate.