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All Your Podcast's Data Are Belong to Spotify
Episode 93 • 2nd March 2022 • Podcast Pontifications • Evo Terra
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Evo Terra:

Data powers the business world and podcasting is no exception.

Evo Terra:

Knowing what works and what doesn't across the whole of podcasting

Evo Terra:

is a major competitive advantage.

Evo Terra:

And guess who now owns it?

Evo Terra:

Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.

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Recently, Spotify reached in their big bag of holding and pulled out enough cash

Evo Terra:

to purchase both Podsights and Chartable.

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As a serious podcaster, you are probably already using

Evo Terra:

one or both of those services.

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I know I am.

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But if you're not, here's a very brief, and way, way too far brief,

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actually, explanation of what they do.

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Third-party validation.

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That's it.

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I mean, both do a lot more than that, but suffice to know that a good chunk

Evo Terra:

of the overall podcast advertising spend relies on those two companies,

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from indie podcasters all the way up to really, really large networks.

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Both are, or perhaps were, also attractive to podcasters who wanted a

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more complete, or maybe a different, view about their show's availability.

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Well, just about every hosting service for podcasters provides

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analytics to their account holders.

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The data is sometimes sliced and diced weirdly, and even for IAB-certified

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hosting services, the numbers don't line up because podcasting.

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So, if you've switched hosting platforms or you're running podcasts across

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multiple, different hosting companies, or you just want some sort of normalized data

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on downloads for some comparison's sake, you're probably using one of those two

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services or something very much like them.

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And now both of those services are owned by Spotify, which gives

Evo Terra:

Spotify a lot more access to data about more podcasts, maybe even your

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podcast, and certainly my podcast.

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Now, here's why that may not be such a great thing.

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See the issue is, in a nutshell, and you can, I mean, we'll find out

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whether you care about this or not after I give you this little nutshell.

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If you're using either Podsights and Chartable to collect data or to provide

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additional insight on your podcast, Spotify can see that very same data now.

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If you're using smart promos, attribution modeling, or any of the

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other nifty features to further optimize your podcast, regardless of your

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monetization strategy or lack thereof, Spotify can see that very same data.

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Now, I'm a proponent of making more data about podcast performance public.

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Downloads.

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Completion rate.

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Subscriber accounts.

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Listening patterns.

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I'm the kind of loon who thinks that more of that should be unpacked

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and on display for everyone to see.

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And yes, I recognize there are lots of implications about what I just said.

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Yes, I realize I'm in the minority position.

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But I remain hopeful we'll get there one day.

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So, yeah, I'm all for making data public.

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So if that's the case, though, why am I, well, I guess if not

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uncomfortable, at least wary of giving Spotify access to the very source of

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information I would like to see public?

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And the answer to that is simple.

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Giving it to Spotify does not make it public.

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It just gives an advantage to Spotify and Spotify only.

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And while I'm not on the anti-Spotify train, I do try to keep them a little

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bit at arms length because, you know, Spotify has become the dominant player.

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By some indications you might even say they are the dominant

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player now in podcasting.

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But their actions have been Spotify-first.

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And sure, I'd expect that same thing for any profit hungry company throwing

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around hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Like my granddaughter slaps her access card around Chuck E.

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Cheese.

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But Spotify has placed massive GDP-level bets on podcasting.

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If you listen to Daniel EK talk, sure seems like he's staking the future

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of his entire company on podcasting.

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Their investments, incredibly large investments, in this

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space have to pay off.

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And one of the biggest way to find profits is by churning through data.

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Not just your own data, but data from the entire industry.

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And now they, Spotify, have access, unprecedented access, to

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a statistically relevant sample of the entirety of podcasting.

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Big shows.

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Small shows.

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Shows that release every single day or maybe every single week without fail.

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Shows that release whenever the heck the host feels like it.

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Serialized shows that drop all episodes at once and then go dark for months or years.

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Podfaded shows that still get downloads.

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Experiments on new formats and styles of podcasting.

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Podcasts that switch their hosting companies or get

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gobbled up by big networks.

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Podcasts that make money.

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Podcasts that spend money advertising on other podcasts.

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That's a lot of data.

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And it's just going to make Spotify smarter, smarter about what works in the

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business of podcasting, smarter about what kinds of shows people are consuming

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across all of podcasting, smarter about the connections listeners have

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and podcasts have between each other.

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It is, again, an unprecedented amount of data and data that only Spotify will own.

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Now they've gone so far, I'm being honest here, to say, to state publicly, and issue

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statements saying that they'd never ever use any of the data that they now own to

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give them advantage over the competition.

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Uh-huh.

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Come on.

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They're here in business to make money.

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I mean, how long can they keep their hands out of the cookie jar when

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the pressure from their investors to turn a profit really heats up?

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My bet is not very long at all.

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So what am I going to do?

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I mean, a download you made to listen to the show right now is

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tracked through both Podsights and Chartable, which now means Spotify.

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So am I going to remove those services?

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Maybe.

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But I'm certainly going to start looking for viable options that are actually

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neutral third parties, that's for sure.

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And you know what?

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You probably should, too.

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With that, I shall be back directly with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

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Cheers!

Evo Terra:

Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra.

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He's on a mission to make podcasting better.

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Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes

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section of your podcast listening app.

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A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at

Evo Terra:

podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected

Evo Terra:

transcript, both created by Allie Press.

Evo Terra:

Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media.