With little fanfare we released Podlove Publisher 2 a few weeks ago. While major version numbers usually bring a lot to brag about we kept it quiet because we wanted to be ready to adjust bugs that could have stemmed from a huge new feature: Podlove Analytics.

But it all worked so we should talk about it. Podlove Analytics brings you statistics about your podcast you always wanted. There is still work to be done so we have just started with what everybody was desperately looking for in the first place: download statistics.

Actually, we have brought tracking of download to Podlove Publisher a while ago. It silently sneaked in your Expert Settings and those who found it and enabled it have already started to collect information. With Podlove Publisher 2 you can now visualise the data in your blog.

How to activate Analytics

In your admin interface, go to "Podlove -> Expert Settings -> Tracking" and enable the "Tracking URL Parameters & Analytics" setting. The day you switch that on, Podlove will start collecting information about downloads.

When tracking is enabled, you get a new menu called "Podlove -> Analytics". After a day or so, you will get the first results and can start exploring how your podcast is downloaded.

Download Intents

What we actually track is something we call "Download Intents". Podlove Publisher does not manage media file delivery so we do not have access to actual download log files. But when tracking is enabled, download links are routed via a redirect mechanism that starts counting when a client wants to access the file. This mechanism seems to work much better than we expected.

So while the user interface simply calls it "downloads", it's actually "download intents". But our tests show that this seems to be in line with reality.

Interactive Visualizer

Right now, you can dive into download statistics for each episode. You look at the total downloads over time but you can also break it down by operating system, client used, download source (download via feed, web player or direct download), download context (which feed, which page etc.) or episode asset.

Please play around with the options and let us know what you find useful and interesting an in what way you want this to evolve.

Future Development

In the future, we will add geo information (which already gets collected) and we will further enhance the way you can break down numbers, compare averages, detect exceptions and how clients will be detected.

In addition to download statistics we will also tackle feed subscription statistics. This still needs some work as we need to research realities with feed proxys and statistics services (like FeedBurner or FeedPress) but it's definitely on our list.