Feed Subscribers Bell Curve

[EndGamePR]

I've noticed over time that my subscriber count on Startup BizCast (http://www.startupbizcast.com) seems to create almost a bell curve. Every week, the number of subscribers to my feed goes up and peaks on my publication day -- Wednesday. After Wednesday, the feed count goes down until it hits its low around Saturday or Sunday. Then, on Monday it starts going back up again. I'm not exaggerating when I say this happens every single week.

Does anyone else see this phenomenon? The only explanation I can think of is that it's a combination of people trying out the show and deciding they don't like it, and people who don't know that you can just stay subscribed and get the new show each week.

[Metaphore]

Mine does the same thing and I release once a month. It has always done that.
Most people, even if they are subscribed through iTunes and such don't leave the program running they log in and download all their shows once or twice a week. I know I do. Seems most people do it in the middle of the week, Im sure combined with hump day work boredom surfing and the like.

[EndGamePR]

Mine does the same thing and I release once a month. It has always done that.
Most people, even if they are subscribed through iTunes and such don't leave the program running they log in and download all their shows once or twice a week. I know I do. Seems most people do it in the middle of the week, Im sure combined with hump day work boredom surfing and the like.
Does that explain it? I assumed that even with iTunes, once a person is subscribed, they're counted by Feedburner (didn't mention it, but I'm using them to track this "bell curve") until they physically unsubscribe.

[Metaphore]

Feedburner is just a unique IP per day hit counter. It is great for trends and to see how many people typically hit your feed per day, but thats about it.
There is no way for a service like feedburner to track IPs or individual subscribers except for when they ping your feed. If you have a subscriber that only checks your feed once a month then they will only be counted once per month in your numbers.
There is also no way for feedburner to know if someone has unsubscribed from your feed other than they just dont ever hit your feed again and arn't totaled in the days counts.

[EndGamePR]

Feedburner is just a unique IP per day hit counter. It is great for trends and to see how many people typically hit your feed per day, but thats about it.
There is no way for a service like feedburner to track IPs or individual subscribers except for when they ping your feed. If you have a subscriber that only checks your feed once a month then they will only be counted once per month in your numbers.
There is also no way for feedburner to know if someone has unsubscribed from your feed other than they just dont ever hit your feed again and arn't totaled in the days counts.
Ohhhhhhh ... interesting. I thought it was more sophisticated than that. Thanks for that. It explains something I've been wondering about for a long time. Given that explanation, it makes perfect sense that the number of "subscribers" would peak on Wednesday ... since that's the day that I release new shows. So, I guess if I ever give out my subscriber count (which I rarely do) I need to give out the most recent "Wednesday" number.