Aus Podcast Ranker to switch to audience ranking, but still provide download numbers
Commercial Radio Australia (CRA) has changed how its Australian Podcast Ranker, compiled with Triton Digital, will rank podcasts, revealing a shakeup that will see listener numbers rather than download numbers become the key metric.
The ranker has measured the Top 100 most-downloaded podcasts each month since it launched in October 2019, but now it will be ranked by listener numbers.
Downloads will still be listed, and CRA CEO Joan Warner said the change in focus and addition of listener numbers for the August report, out next week, will give the market greater insights and help advertisers with commercialisation.
“This new level of transparency will provide consistent and universal audience and frequency metrics for podcasting and will boost advertiser confidence in investing in this channel,” Warner said.
“Starting this month, the Australian Podcast Ranker will rank podcasts by audience reach rather than number of downloads. In addition, download figures by title will also be made public for the first time.
“Agencies will now have information on the reach and frequency of each podcast to assist with planning and buying decisions and podcast creators will have more tools to assist in monetisation of their content.”
The primary Top 100 most popular podcasts chart will be ranked with the new metric, as will the All-Australian Top 100 and the Top 10 Publisher list.
CRA revealed that its definition of listeners and downloads have been defined in accordance with the globally accepted IAB Tech Lab Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines.
A listener will be a single user who downloads content for immediate or delayed consumption and can be represented by a combination of IP address and user agent. Meanwhile, a download is a unique file request that was downloaded, with at least one minute of playable content downloaded.
OMG head of out of home and audio partnerships, John Lynch, who is also a member of the CRA Podcast Committee, said: “The updated podcast ranker allows agencies and clients to make more informed decisions around investment into podcasting.
“We welcome the changes and believe that it can only help to instil greater confidence in this growing area to the benefit of the industry.”
News Corp Australia general manager commercial networks and a member of the Podcast Committee, Ainslee O’Brien, said the change “will allow buyers and sellers to use the same language and provide the richer data clients are looking for”.
The change follows criticism from the podcast industry, especially independent podcasters, about the fact that radio catch-ups regularly dominate the ranker thanks to the sheer number of podcasts they publish.
Current participating publishers include ARN/iHeartMedia, Audioboom, Babyology, Equity Mates Media, Kinderling Kids Radio, News Corp Australia, Nine, NOVA Entertainment, Podshape, Schwartz Media, Southern Cross Austereo, Sports Entertainment Network, Stitcher Media, TOFOP Productions, Wavelength Creative and West Australian Newspapers.
The next Australian Podcast Ranker will be released on 14 September.
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Zanda Wilson was a reporter and podcast producer at Mumbrella, specialising in radio reporting. He left Mumbrella in September 2021.
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topics
Australian Podcast Ranker
Commercial Radio Australia
CRA
Joan Warner
podcasting
Triton Digital
