The guys are back, talking about Apple Podcasts once again. On this episode of the Q’d Up Podcast on Podcasting, John and Jay (PodVader) help you understand Apple Podcasts’ star rating system, rankings, and finding your subscriber count. While podcast statistics can be nearly impossible to accurately track, Jay also shares some of the tricks he’s picked up over his career for estimating how many downloads a podcast gets and how many of your own downloads come from subscribers 

After talking about audio file settings in the last episode, John teaches Jay about all the different audio formats for podcasting. From MP3 to FLAC, John breaks down the pros and cons of each audio format for podcasting, which formats you should use now, and which ones could be the next big thing. 

Show highlights: 

Introduction 

Analyzing the star ratings on Apple Podcasts (2:11) 

Jay shares his trick for estimating the number of total downloads a podcast gets per episode. Using an article from Dan Misener at Pacific Content, Jay also breaks down several interesting trends found about the star ratings on Apple Podcasts -- from which star rating is the most common to how explicit language can help your podcast ratings. 

Understanding Apple Podcasts rankings and statistics (16:01) 

With very few platforms releasing their numbers, finding accurate total podcast statistics can be nearly impossible. Once again, Jay shares a trick for estimating how many subscribers your podcast has. 

Let’s teach PodVader a lesson: Audio formats for podcasting (26:01) 

John teaches Jay about all the different types of audio formats podcasters can use, breaking down the pros and cons of each one. He also gives his insight on what is going to be the next big audio formats for podcasting and which format you should be using right now. 

Apple Podcasts insights: January redux (36:17) 

With January 2021 finally over, Jay and John take a look at the entire month’s stats courtesy of Podcast Industry Insights. They see an immense amount of growth with very few podcasts removed in January, pointing to podcasting continuing its rise through the coronavirus pandemic. 

Links: 

Q’d Up 

Pod Vader - Twitter 

Pod Vader - Email 

Pod Vader - Linked In 

John - Email 

John - Linked In 

Pacific Content - Star ratings 

PodNews - Understanding podcast stats 

Blubrry - MP3 vs M4a