Apple podcasts to come with analytics; will use anonymous, aggregate data

tech2 News StaffJun 12, 2017 12:56:18 IST

The announcement of iOS 11 (beta) is not the only trending feature at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference. Apple had also announced that it will now introduce basic analytics for its podcast sessions. This can prove useful to creators as it can enhance their engagement with advertisers and listeners.

Unlike YouTube or Facebook whose analytics are more detailed, Apple has always leaned towards safeguarding the privacy of its users. It will try to maintain privacy by using aggregated data, which will be kept anonymous and thus give an overall picture. Rather than handing out individual user data or that of a particular group, this will help in providing insight while protecting privacy.

Initially, the feedback came to the podcast creators in the form of episodes downloaded. Beyond this, there was a gap between the creator and the listener. Now, with this new feature, the one who creates the podcast can gather information, including the duration of the episode watched or heard, or which part of the episode was skipped, or which advertisements were watched by users and for how long.

Through this analytics, both the listener and the creator can benefit as better data could lead to better podcasts. Meanwhile, for advertisers, who help by sponsoring the podcasts, for them, it becomes all the more interesting since they get to know which ads are listened to and for how long. Ultimately, these stats might help improve the quality of ads as well.

According to reports, this analytics will be gauged by coordinates like a number of episodes and the number of times an episode was played. Other coordinates include location, the number of listeners and the platforms they use, etc.

Introduction to Analytics may be an eye opener for both, the podcast creator and advertiser, where some might discontinue their productions if the advertisers back out or vice versa. However, it can bring something fresh in the podcast culture where the ways of narration and storytelling may get more creative and experimental based on the feedback. After all, what's an experiment without results?