Monitoring and measuring Podcast success

There are several ways to measure podcast usage. Most hosts and distribution partners provide some basic measures, such as how many subscribers there were to each podcast feed, how many times a particular podcast has been downloaded, and where people are coming from to get your podcast.

Remember, like all marketing initiatives, set conservative goals for your podcasts that you can actually achieve. You may want to base your success measurements on number of subscribers, or, if needed, on actual confirmations that people have listened (There are some tools to track actual use, and not just downloads.)

You’ll want to measure podcast success over time, and look at activity as trends versus specific events. Don’t plan that everyone will suddenly download your new podcast immediately, and don’t think that they will all listen to it immediately - remember, this is a medium in which the end-user gets to choose where and when they listen.