iTunes Top Lists are Country Specific

[owyn]

Just found out that the top lists for subscribed podcasts in iTunes are iTMS music store, ie. country, specific.

Wonder if there is a way to see the list for other stores.

[allthewhile]

spoof your ip? Download itunes off of the uk site?

:lol:

[dcolanduno]

On the front page of iTunes... (The 'Music Store' Home)

There is a little flag in a circle on the top of the column on the left.

Click that flag icon...

Choose a new country...

Enjoy...

I figured this out about a week back, when some listeners kept writing to congragulate me on being in the top 100, or top 20 on iTunes.

We were #3 in Greece, #10 in the Netherlands, and #7 in Canada at some point. I haven't gone back to look. But it was kind of cool to be on the lists for other countries!

[Will-Casel]

Great tip, Derek!
I never noticed that.

Will

[Ian]

Derek, do you have any idea how their top 100 system works? How the hell did you get way up there? I'm not in the top 100 AT ALL!

[swoopy]

I don't post often...but I'll take this one.

We're number two on US iTunes, three in the UK and in the top ten in about five other countries because:

I think people like our show.

Could it possibly be that simple? We have an a well produced show with wide ranging appeal, that has interesting content and is work safe and people are subscribing because they like it.

Maybe it calls for skeptical inquiry, maybe it's just a hoax. But I'll stay deluded for a little while longer.

ANY indie casts that make the top 20 excite me, and more of them are creeping up there every day.

In fact Coverville and Diggnation (#7 - congrats) have banners on the iTunes podcast front page. We haven't ever had one of those, so go figure. It's nice to see banners for something other than ESPN and ABC news up there.

Keeping indie casts the focus I think is important to podcasting having any longevity for those of us without corporate sponsorship, otherwise that top 20 is going to turn into a list of commercials. And that would suck.

[Ian]

TWIT is heavy competition with a built in former TV audience. I expect them to be at the top, but Skepticality? Did you guys promote your show somewhere? I understand you have a good show, but there are lots of good shows. Did Itunes users just happen to find you? Surely there must be some tangible factor to your meteoric rise in the charts.

[owyn]

I think people like our show.

Could it possibly be that simple? We have an a well produced show with wide ranging appeal, that has interesting content and is work safe and people are subscribing because they like it.

Yep. I have been subscribed since show#2. You and Derek both worked at making the show interesting and listenable. The addition of regular guest interviews kicked the show the next level.

I never know what I am going to hear, but, I always know that I want to reserve the time to listen closely.

[dcolanduno]

TWIT is heavy competition with a built in former TV audience. I expect them to be at the top, but Skepticality? Did you guys promote your show somewhere? I understand you have a good show, but there are lots of good shows. Did Itunes users just happen to find you? Surely there must be some tangible factor to your meteoric rise in the charts.

We have had a huge push media wise. We had five guests on that all are editors for major magazines in our Niche. That helped a lot, most mentioned us in their e-newsletters and publications.

We also have a lot of folks in that niche that listen, the Skeptic and Science forums are far, far, more active than what you see in the Alley, and in most forums, which always suprised me.

Many of the major Skeptics/Science Blogs have us on their front page. A couple even take every show of ours and make it an entry.

We had the newspaper article here in the AJC that was Front Page, main headline news the day it came out. Then, that artice was re-printed in 6 other major newspapers here in the U.S.

We had James Randi and Michael Shermer, (Scientific American, Skeptic Magazine, mega book author), on as guests, that alone is a huge bump in our numbers for the type of show we do.

I'll be honest, it really has to do with filling a small niche, that is LARGE in terms of podcasting.

I decided to heads down do what I reccomended to many people here when looking for an audience. Go far, far, outside podcasting and hit your main market.

That is harder to do with Music, Tech, and Political Talk, there are many shows that do that on the 'big airwave'. Then there are the couplescasts and comedy shows, which have a hard time because... almost anyone could be thier niche, so you can't just go to a direct market as easy.

Our show is very specific, I think that helped quite a bit. If you notice, MOST of the Science shows have either hit the top 20 and/or, are still scattered in the top 100.

[swoopy]

TWIT is heavy competition with a built in former TV audience. I expect them to be at the top, but Skepticality? Did you guys promote your show somewhere? I understand you have a good show, but there are lots of good shows. Did Itunes users just happen to find you? Surely there must be some tangible factor to your meteoric rise in the charts.

Well, our first mention on an other podcast was 5questions. The Rev Up Review gave us a positive thumbs up, and we just did a Podcast411 interview that hasn't aired yet. We're on Nate and Di all the time. :)

We were mentioned on The Daily Source over a week ago only in so much that our promo was played, and Adam laughed about it and said he was amused by it, kinda poked fun at it a little.

We had a tiny mention in a podcasting article in our local paper, over a week ago but we haven't had nearly the press of say Dawn and Drew or Daily Souce. We haven't been in USA today or on tv or anything like that. For all the frenzy that the Podshow crew have generated, I guess we're quietly doing well.

We weren't anywhere on the top 100 in the US, though we've been doing well for awhile in other countries, we were number one in Greece awhile ago. Then last weekend we crept into the top 20, and then the top 10, now the top 5. My original hope was just to get ahead of some of the big corporates, and we've done that. I don't think anyone can unseat New Music Tuesday.

We're stunned, flattered, thrilled, frightened. For however long it lasts, it's nice. We're just going to keep doing it, the way we have been. We have some great interviews lined up over the next couple of weeks, and hopefully people will keep enjoying them.

[Jellicle]

I understand you have a good show, but there are lots of good shows. Did Itunes users just happen to find you? Surely there must be some tangible factor to your meteoric rise in the charts.

A personal opinion, but I'm not surprised. Your show is much like lots of others in format and content, while Derek's is unique and interesting. It probably helps that his show appeals to intelligent geeks, who tend to be early adopters of new tech and media formats.

[Ian]

Derek:
Ahh, James Randi. Nice job. He has a bit of a following. :) I've been trying to get Penn on FTL...

Jellicle,
I'll take the format comment, yes we're formatted like a radio show, but I'd like you to point out another radio show with content like ours, since you made the claim. I'd like to know who our competition is.

[dcolanduno]

Derek:
Ahh, James Randi. Nice job. He has a bit of a following. :) I've been trying to get Penn on FTL...

Working on that myself! But the bigger one was Michael Shermer, he put us in his newsletter and will be in the next Skeptic Magazine issue.

Also, he mentioned us in an NPR appearance and somewhere else I have been told.

They played the Randi interview on the Sirius podshow as well, I didn't mention that in my list of marketing pops I got.

[podcast pickle]

I knew I had good taste in what I listened to. Skepticality is now number 2 on iTunes.

Congrats Derrick and Swoopy.

You have a great show, and I guess now everyone knows.

[Will-Casel]

We're just going to keep doing it, the way we have been. We have some great interviews lined up over the next couple of weeks, and hopefully people will keep enjoying them.

Yep, I listened to your show the first time a couple of weeks ago. You and Derek do great interviews. Keep up the good work!

Will

[Jellicle]

I'll take the format comment, yes we're formatted like a radio show, but I'd like you to point out another radio show with content like ours, since you made the claim. I'd like to know who our competition is.

It might be that your politics are different (in the talk radiosphere, at least), but to me it sounds like so much other talk radio. Many listeners can't be bothered with opinionated content that comes from the fringes of the political landscape (that isn't a value judgement btw - I also live at the fringes of the political landscape :D). It just doesn't seem to interest many podcast listeners, compared to stuff on e.g. critical thinking.

[Ian]

I see. Certainly podcast listeners are generally more technically inclined, but judging by the variety of podcasts out there, the generalizations stop there in my book.

Best Regards,
Ian

[dcolanduno]

Also,

We all now know how Apple does the top 100...

It's the most NEW subscriptions in 24 hours. That explains a whole lot.

[Ian]

Interesting. Where was that info released?

[dcolanduno]

Interesting. Where was that info released?

Curry talked about it on his latest Source Code.

[RitmoLatino]

Que increible! Ritmo Latino is at number 10 in Spain. Wow.

[jeffoest]

Also,

We all now know how Apple does the top 100...

It's the most NEW subscriptions in 24 hours. That explains a whole lot.

Boy, I don't know. If that was the case, I would expect the top 100 to a lot more dynamic than it currently is. But I don't know. Call me skeptical!

Plus that wouldn't really be a top 100. But it WOULD be a cool and interesting list - the HOT 100 perhaps.

[bramley]

We all now know how Apple does the top 100...

It's the most NEW subscriptions in 24 hours. That explains a whole lot.


Thanks for explaining this. I shockingly found myself in the top 100 today. Without much thought, I just assumed it was cumulative downloads. Makes for a whole different atmosphere when it's new subscribers rather than total audience. And explains why there's so much movement.

Congratulations, BTW, on your great ranking.

[bramley]

Well, obviously I cross posted with Pat and Jeff. Different perspectives on the lists, I guess.

You Skepticality folks has given me a whole new way to waste time. We're big in Ireland -- more so than the other countries. What a hoot.

[dcolanduno]

Also,

We all now know how Apple does the top 100...

It's the most NEW subscriptions in 24 hours. That explains a whole lot.

Boy, I don't know. If that was the case, I would expect the top 100 to a lot more dynamic than it currently is. But I don't know. Call me skeptical!

Plus that wouldn't really be a top 100. But it WOULD be a cool and interesting list - the HOT 100 perhaps.

I just went on what Curry Said! :) I think there is a combination of new subscribers in 24 hours and total listeners. OR, an average of the total number of subscribers per day.

I think I am still confused. LOL... but country surfing is fun!

[shepdave]

Does anybody have any idea why podcasts sometimes drop completely out of the iTunes listings in a particular country, then come back in?

This has happened to us in several European countries. Yesterday we were, like, #70 in Switzerland or something, then later on we couldn't even find our podcast by using a search.

Schlaflos in München, which is usually at the top of indie German-language podcasts, is nowhere to be found in any central European iTunes stores this morning.

Once this week I searched for my own 'cast, was told it wasn't there, then immediately searched again and there it was.

This affects not only searches, but also top-100 rankings, as you might imagine.

Dave

[Jellicle]

Earlier this evening my podcast was gone; now it's back. Even earlier I was unable to subscribe to any new podcasts in iTunes, now I can.

BTW, love the Word Nerds show :D.

[tWW]

We had no idea where we stood in the rankings. Since your posting, we have discovered we've been as high as #23 in iTunes Canada.

Thank you so much for raising this!!
You made our week :D


Cheers,
-tWW

[shepdave]

Well, I found out what happened with Schlaflos in München...

This show is usually among the very top of German-language podcasts--either the first top indie podcast or among the top three or so.

One day last week, somebody (from another podcast, as it happens) clicked on "Report a Concern" for Schlaflos and "reported" to Apple that the domain name was their own. (It wasn't.)

This caused Apple to drop the show not only from the rankings, but from being listed at all in iTunes.

Annik, the producer of Schlaflos, had to send Apple an email through iTunes Support and set them straight. She lost a day in the rankings, and hasn't been in the top 10 in Germany or Austria again until yesterday.

I'd humbly say that there are still quite a few bugs to be worked out in the iTunes podcast listings.

(Thanks for the nice words, Jellicle!)

Dave