Last week at their major developer conference (WWDC), Apple announced that they will be releasing comprehensive podcast analytics. Apple’s analytics will offer data on listener behavior to podcast publishers with the iOS 11 update, which rolls out this fall. This comes after years of feedback from podcast producers – who have no data about their listeners to improve their work and build on their profits.
Why do we care about podcasts?
Especially if a brand is not currently making podcasts or advertising on podcasts? Here’s why you should consider podcasts – either for advertising possibilities, or as an opportunity to create new content:
- By the end of 2017, over 30% of all Americans will listen to a monthly podcast, which is up from 20% in 2016 (source: Bridge Ratings)
- Podcasting is projected to grow to nearly $500 million by 2020 (source: Bridge Ratings)
- 90% of all podcast ads have a direct-response component, according to Adopter Media
Why do we care about Apple podcast analytics?
- Apple hosts about 70% of all available podcasts (source: Adopter Media)
- About 80% of all podcast consumption is on Apple devices, so while this analytics offering will not be entirely comprehensive or include 100% of listener behavior, it will cover the majority.
Current podcast analytics covers only the basics: downloads.
Gaining additional information about who is actually listening, for how long, and at what frequency will help marketers better understand viable podcasts for advertising opportunities and will help podcast creators better optimize their content for improved results.
Despite more robust analytics, this rollout still won’t put podcasting on the same plane as most other digital media for advertisers, according to Recode cofounders. Important to note: the data will be anonymized so marketers still won’t be able to hyper-target like on hyper-targeted platforms like Facebook.
IMAGE SOURCE: Apple
