Podtrac

[Jeva]

Hi, this is Jeva of the Lance and Graal Pagan Podcast. Following the discussions in this particular forum, I have twoestions:

Who has worked with podtrac, and what were your experiences with them? I found Google Adsense terribly disappointing; the numbers suggested I wouldn't get my first check from them for a few years.

There also doesn't appear to be a consensus on how listenership is gauged. According to my webserver, each new episode is downloaded 500-600 times in the first week, while the RSS feed is requested some 5,000 times per week. Now, I have gauged my listenership by the number of actual downloads. Am I correct in assuming that I may have been shortchanging myself?

[mpeacock]

My discussions with advertisers have cast in terms of downloads, not RSS requests. The same person could hit your RSS feed 24 times/day if they have (obnoxiously) set iTunes/Juice/iPodderX to check hourly for new episodes.

However, I wouldn't limit yourself to the number of downloads in a week. For my episodes, 80% of the downloads happen within a week of release, but there's still a decent tail of downloads that continues as long as I have the episode in my RSS feed. Each of those downloads is a "listen" and should be counted/reported/paid for as such.

Regards,

[PupuStudios]

Podtrac is a great service that supplies a professional listener survey and also measures the audio/video file downloads for a podcast. It's a totally free service to podcasters. Rob from podcast411.com interviewed Podtrac's CEO a few shows ago. He answers a lot of questions that podcasters have been asking.

[TNT100]

We just added them to see what happens :D


www.tnt100.com

[kickasspodcast]

each new episode is downloaded 500-600 times in the first week, while the RSS feed is requested some 5,000 times per week. Now, I have gauged my listenership by the number of actual downloads. Am I correct in assuming that I may have been shortchanging myself?
I would not count RSS feed requests as listeners. If I subscribe to your RSS feed in my newsreader, it will read your feed everytime I ask it to, but I don't necessarily have to download anything. Also, if I look you up at PCA or at the Pickle, it displays your feed also. I would base your listeners on actual downloads per show. You raise a big issue however, as stats are often tricky to figure out.



And here is...
Another PCA thread on Podtrac that might be of help (http://podcastalley.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8200&sid=33fba1921834c52450bbf4f5b6aedc3d)

[ferg]

Podtrac...also measures the audio/video file downloads for a podcast.

I've had the redirect thing in my feed for quite some time now, and I've yet to see any real evidence that this is true. I'm curious to see what measurements they produce, and how they compare to other metrics available to me (feedburner circulation, download stats from my logs), but the fact remains that they still have not given us any access to the stats they're allegedly collecting.

They HAVE given us a number of emails saying that the reports were going to be ready at some later date. The most recent one said they were going to have it ready by the end of last month.

I think this is pretty lame. I know, personally, that the sole reason I signed up was for the measurement stats. I'm sure that I'm not alone, or, even if I am, I'm certain that the measurement reports were at least a motivating factor. Podtrac, apparently, delayed the release of the measurement stats to focus on something else...something of interest to advertisers.

Anyway...anyone else out there getting a little frustrated with the delays?

[AmericanCliche]

Hi Ferg,

I agree with you. I have spoken with Mark at Podtrac several times on the phone. The last time I spoke to him I conveyed the very same message of frustration. The fact is that for the last 3 months, many of us have gotten our audience to take their survey and it's given them valuable data about our audience and yet, we still don't have that data. I will say that they have shared survey results which is cool, but still no download tracking.

All that aside, I like Mark and I think they are trying to navigate the waters, probably sacrificing certain priorities to make room for other ones. Ultimately they need to pay their bills, but they also need to throw podcasters a bone soon.

Hopefully they will.

-Scott

[kickasspodcast]

I don't get it,

If they don't track downloads, what is the point of links like this..

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?http://www.smallworldpodcast.com/mp3/smallworld020606.mp3

Why have a redirect if your not gonna keep track.


3rd party stats verification is both vital and risky. I would assert that nobody should disclose any stats to a company for free. Yes there is computerized calculation involved in the tally and completion of stats, but I wouldn't put up a survey (especially one that mentioned the company name: IE: free ad space) unless I came to an agreement with the company and felt like I got something in return, up front. I met Mark at the PME, he was as nice of a guy as one could hope to meet. After reading the last few posts, I have to keep watching what they do.

This isn't directed at Podtrac, just in general. You don't tell the grocery store what you buy (with a discount card) for nothing? They give you something in return every time. Information and data is priceless in media, make sure your back gets scratched. They gladly drop the price by 2% because tracking your spending habits is worth alot more to them.

I, myself, am waiting to see who gets its right.

I'm looking for something that:
a: Won't require my listeners to resubscribe because I changed the feed (feed burner)
b: Gives me both accurate and DETAILED stats. (libsyn)

I think software may be the answer, not so much a service.

Jack

[ferg]

I don't get it,

If they don't track downloads, what is the point of links like this..

http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?http://www.smallworldpodcast.com/mp3/smallworld020606.mp3

Why have a redirect if your not gonna keep track.


Jack...


They are tracking the downloads (at least that's what they say), they just haven't finished the area of their site where we can view the stats. Those of us who put the redirect in did it ASAP so that the hits would all go into their database right away, then, when (if) they make the reports available, we'll be able to view the stats from the first day we started the redirect.

[SFEley]

FWIW, I did get my survey results back from Podtrac about a week ago, and then an update today. I also asked for a copy of my media kit (I'm putting together a business plan) and got back... Well, a PowerPoint presentation with some pie charts summarizing my survey results. I don't think that's what they meant by media kit, but I could be wrong.

I haven't seen my download stats yet either, and I agree that that's a real issue. I'm also a bit concerned about their level of communication. McCrery sent me an e-mail on January 10 suggesting another phone call to talk about my survey results and some press citations I wanted him to know about. That's the last I've heard from him. I've sent him several e-mails to the effect of: "Hello! In two weeks I was BoingBoinged, featured on iTunes, interviewed by NPR, and my subscription base has doubled. We can do that phone call any time now..." I've received no reply.

Am I pissed at them? Not really. What I have to remind myself is that none of these services -- Podtrac, Kiptronic, especially Podshow -- want to be partners in my podcast. They're ad agencies. Ad agencies have their own pace for things, and of course you're not their customer, you're the product. They may say otherwise, but that's the math.

All of which is not necessarily a bad thing. If they deliver results, they don't have to be our friends. They just have to match us with the right advertisers and make sure the checks are good. And if they don't deliver results... Well, Podtrac never asked for exclusivity.

[cybercooler]

When PodTrac came out I was soo impressed. Marc is a great guy (and has the background of marketing and advertising). They need to understand the "Cable Guy" customer service. The cable guy says "Ill be there between 8 and 3. You're like "Ugh." Now you waste your whole day with a lack of detail (as you hope he gets there by 9). If the cable guy gave you "bad news" and said "I won't be there till 2." While this may be dissapointing, its communication, and you can plan your day accordingly.

Kiptronic (www.kiptronic.com )recently came on the scene. Not sure what Jonathon's background but I do know he acknowledges every email, and if there is a bug (I found 1), he fixed it quickly and alerted me. He communicated.

Now if there is "no news" from the Podtrac camp, (maybe I'm weird, OK I am weird), but I would prefer a communication of "we have no news" or if there is something we as podcasters can do to speed things up, let us know. Right now I've got my podtrac redirect in, which then triggers my Kiptronic download. Whoever brings me a sponsor first wins.

[dragonslanding]

Podtrac just got their Beta version of their stat reporting put up on their website. From what I can tell, it looks pretty accurate. We signed up with Libsyn a couple of months ago, and the numbers Podtrac reports on their stats page is fairly accurate in comparison to the stats from Libsyn.

[NML-Simon]

I was with podtrac and was very disapointed with the service, but it is free.

[kinkysex]

Now if there is "no news" from the Podtrac camp, (maybe I'm weird, OK I am weird), but I would prefer a communication of "we have no news"
Do you mean to tell me that there is no RSS feed linked to a blog?!
How odd is that? Like a cellular company with no phone number. :lol:

Seriously though, podtrac, set up a ****ed blog. I think someone here could help you with the RSS. :lol:

[bazookajoeshow]

Wouldn't you know it, the very day I started to run an ad from a sponsor I built a relationship with myself, Podtrac goes down! :x

To make matters worse, the show features a great interview that will pull in a bit more traffic from people who don't subscribe to the show. So I find myself asking questions. Like, do I sit tight and wait for Podtrac to fix things so I can track who downloads the show, which will attract advertisers if it helps boost my numbers as well as satisfying my own sponsor? Or do I strip the redirect link and get the show out pronto instead of waiting for Podtrack to solve their problem but deprive myself of tracking downloads and attracting advertisers through Podtrac? Or do I strip the redirect link and then add it again later when Podtrac is up and running again, which means it will subscribers will download the show twice which always annoys a listener?

And aside from the show, what about all my previous shows? All 268 of them? It took several hours going into my blog and adding those redirect links that don't work (again).

I said in an earlier post that I could overlook Podtrac going down from time to time but if this is a hint at the that this will happen then count me out.

[NML-Simon]

Right on man, I feel your pain. That's why I left them as well. Anybody had any luck getting sponsors with Kiptronic?

[bazookajoeshow]

It would be one thing if I had advertisers that I got though Podtrac because if Podtrac goes down it's Podtrac's responsibility. No harm done to me (aside from being late for getting a show out and despite the fact that this is a time delayed medium, some people like having their shows come out on a regular basis). But it's another matter entirely if I have built and developed a relationship with a sponsor and the show doesn't got out because Podtrac dropped the ball then I'm responsible.

I appreciate the work that Podtrac is doing but so far it seems to be hurting me rather than helping me.

Right on man, I feel your pain. That's why I left them as well.

[bazookajoeshow]

Podtrac is back up.

[AmericanCliche]

Do you know how long podtrac was down for roughly?

[bazookajoeshow]

I rhink it was down for four or five hours. It might have been down before I knew about it.

Do you know how long podtrac was down for roughly?

[rfreeland]

Greetings everyone. I wanted to post a quick note in here to let you all know what happened this morning with our servers.

To make a long story short, Microsoft pushed out another broken patch this morning, and it took down our host. Our provider then spent several hours rolling the patch back. Total downtime was precisely 3 hours, 45 minutes (from just after 3:00am to 6:45am).

I'd chalk this up as just "one of those things", except that it happened last month with another one of Microsoft's patches. That one took both us and Libsyn down.

Needless to say, we're every bit as unhappy about all this as you are. Please accept our apologies for the downtime, and know that we're having hard talks with our service provider about their process for applying future Microsoft patches. If we didn't have so much .NET code, I'd seriously consider Linux at this point.

[kinkysex]

Hmmm.. no RSS blog AND no Linux?!

Are you sure you like podcasters?! :roll:

[AmericanCliche]

Robert,

Thanks for posting about the downtime here. I think it's really important to keep people in the loop and the forums are a great way to do it.

-Scott