Podcasters have also raised concerns about the lack of a standardized metric for what constitutes a "play" or "stream" across different platforms. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) collaborates with podcast platforms to establish a consistent definition, but discrepancies remain, particularly between Spotify and YouTube compared to the IAB standard. Spotify defines play counts as the number of times "people actively tried" the content, with streams and downloads counting only after 60 seconds of engagement.
Key takeaways:
- Spotify initially planned to display public play counts on all podcasts to attract new fans but faced criticism for potentially disadvantaging smaller shows.
- The company revised its plan to show play counts only on podcasts with at least 50,000 plays, updating at specific milestones like 100,000 or 1 million plays.
- Podcasters are concerned about the lack of a consistent metric for what constitutes a "play" across different platforms, with Spotify and YouTube differing from the IAB standard.
- Amanda Silberling, a senior writer at TechCrunch, covers technology and culture and co-hosts a podcast about internet culture.