Speaker:
The listener privacy versus data intelligence battle rages on with
Speaker:
podcasters caught in the crossfire, reminding us of how little
Speaker:
ownership we actually have of the relationship with our listeners.
Speaker:
Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.
Speaker:
Today's episode was brought to you by the podcast app developers who'd
Speaker:
like to remind you that we, the podcasters, are not their client.
Speaker:
Instead we, and the shows we make, are their product.
Speaker:
Breaking news, Evo.
Speaker:
It appears the changes you're about to speak of have already
Speaker:
been rolled back by the developer.
Speaker:
But you still raise good points in this episode, so carry on!
Speaker:
,We're going to have a discussion about statistics today,
Speaker:
podcast metrics, if you will.
Speaker:
You have to make a decision right now, podcaster.
Speaker:
Do you want accurate stats?
Speaker:
And by accurate, I mean, precision accuracy that tells you every single
Speaker:
access of your file and that is tracked down to the minutia, accurate?
Speaker:
Or do you want actionable data on how your podcast and your outreach
Speaker:
efforts are actually performing?
Speaker:
Choose one.
Speaker:
Accuracy, which just gives you accurate counting, or actionable, that tells
Speaker:
you how everything is working together.
Speaker:
Not quite the same thing.
Speaker:
Today, Overcast, a privacy-focused and very popular iOS app, which I use, at
Speaker:
least when my wife and I are traveling, to listen to the shared podcast together.
Speaker:
Overcast is now blocking the second choice.
Speaker:
Overcast is blocking your ability to get actionable data on how
Speaker:
your podcast and your outreach efforts are actually performing.
Speaker:
Let me explain what I mean by that.
Speaker:
Well, actually, before I explain what I mean by that, let me say this.
Speaker:
Now luckily, in the words of the developer, Marco Arment, in his own words,
Speaker:
he says, "Overcast is too small for anyone to notice," because, "Overcast represents
Speaker:
something like 2 to 4% of their audience."
Speaker:
Let's get into this.
Speaker:
Specifically, starting now, if you are looking at your stats
Speaker:
from Overcast in your podcast hosting company, you will be fine.
Speaker:
You'll be fine because that's a-okay.
Speaker:
Still going to be accessing the content.
Speaker:
However, if you're using services like Chartable or Podsights, and at some
Speaker:
point in the time, at some point in time in the future, reading the words,
Speaker:
reading into the words written there, maybe even Podtrac, those services
Speaker:
will no longer show Overcast accesses.
Speaker:
Oh, that's interesting.
Speaker:
What's going on here?
Speaker:
Well, the issue is the fact that some DNS providers, the geeky internal stuff
Speaker:
around the internet, there's ad-blocking happening at the DNS level these days.
Speaker:
And that is in some cases causing problems, a legitimate problem
Speaker:
that we certainly need to solve.
Speaker:
No question about that.
Speaker:
And the play that Marco is putting in play currently is to
Speaker:
skip those blocking problems.
Speaker:
Services like Chartable and like Podsights and others do what we call Prefix URLs,
Speaker:
where they grab some information at the requested file download, bounce it
Speaker:
through some servers, and ultimately get it down to the podcast hosting company.
Speaker:
Marco's found a way to bypass the Chartables and the Podsights of
Speaker:
the world so the file, in theory, should still be downloaded.
Speaker:
The listeners using Overcast will not be impeded - again, that's the
Speaker:
intent - from getting their files, they just won't show up in those other, more
Speaker:
actionable data providers' dashboards.
Speaker:
Overcast specifically will not show up in those dashboards.
Speaker:
They will just not even appear.
Speaker:
Like invisible activity.
Speaker:
That's the idea.
Speaker:
The reason this is happening is because Marco was wanting to block what he
Speaker:
considers to be "creepy" behavior on the parts of the Chartables and the Podsights.
Speaker:
Okay.
Speaker:
So what that means for us is welcome to the arms race.
Speaker:
Here we are.
Speaker:
What are we going to do about something like this?
Speaker:
Can't really do anything about this.
Speaker:
Well, what I guess we could do is we can say, fine, we're not going to use those
Speaker:
additional services, which we know give us much more actionable insight, much
Speaker:
more data that we can get, as opposed to just simply a file download, which is
Speaker:
bogus anyhow, as I've said many a time.
Speaker:
We could do that.
Speaker:
We're not going to do that.
Speaker:
I mean, reality is once you get the rich data, once you get the understanding of
Speaker:
how much more information you can get from using services like Chartable and
Speaker:
like Podsights and others that might be bypassed during this service, I don't
Speaker:
think you're going to want to go back.
Speaker:
I know I personally get a lot of value out of both of those services.
Speaker:
And my plan is to continue to use the services because - not
Speaker:
because they're creepy, no.
Speaker:
They give information beyond the download.
Speaker:
There's just only so much data we can get by looking at downloads
Speaker:
and we just have to have more.
Speaker:
So really what it means to me is now I have to go update all my clients.
Speaker:
I've got to tell my clients that, hey, you know, you're using these
Speaker:
services because I recommended you use these services because you
Speaker:
wanted more actionable, meaningful data about how your podcast and your
Speaker:
outreach/marketing efforts are working.
Speaker:
You wanted to do that.
Speaker:
I recommended that you look at these things, well, now your
Speaker:
stats are going to be impacted.
Speaker:
In those dashboards we will not see the activity from probably the most popular
Speaker:
iOS app that's not named Apple Podcasts.
Speaker:
That's going to be a fun conversation.
Speaker:
But it'll be a conversation about accuracy versus actionable intelligence.
Speaker:
But of course we still have the "accurate" data, not really, at the
Speaker:
podcast hosting level on just file downloads, which is not really accurate.
Speaker:
So what are you going to do?
Speaker:
I mean, there's probably, again, like I said, not much you can do
Speaker:
other than disconnect, or probably just bring this conversation up
Speaker:
with your podcasting peer group.
Speaker:
Send them a link to this episode.
Speaker:
See how they feel about it.
Speaker:
I suppose there could be an outcry, a, you know, an uprising, if you will,
Speaker:
with us podcasters who want this actual data, who can rail against and say no.
Speaker:
And, you know, maybe that happens and Marco switches back.
Speaker:
Maybe, more likely, I guess, that whatever this little trick is that he has to
Speaker:
bypass the hops, as he's calling them, that go to these analytics providers,
Speaker:
back to the host, maybe that thing stops working because, you know, some
Speaker:
things stop working, things change around the internet as these companies
Speaker:
try to find ways to get around that.
Speaker:
I don't know.
Speaker:
Maybe the analytics providers can provide data to him and say, look,
Speaker:
we're not being creepy, let us back in.
Speaker:
I don't know.
Speaker:
Welcome to the world of uncertainty in podcasting.
Speaker:
But what is certain is this, if you love the content I provide to you,
Speaker:
please go to buymeacoffee.com/evoterra, and slide a virtual coffee my way.
Speaker:
That's always nice.
Speaker:
That's it.
Speaker:
I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.
