Are Only 10% of Podcast Downloads Consumed?
Scoble mentioned in Twitter today that Eric Nolan “doesn’t think anyone watches my whole video.” I’m assuming that Nolan makes that comment in a recent vodcast that Scoble published, but I’m not sure. I’d have to download and watch the whole show, and based on some recent stats we’ve pulled from Scouta, there’s only a 10% chance that I’d watch any of the show, and only a 5% chance I’d watch more than 50%.
Now, don’t get me wrong, these stats aren’t definitive. There based on a very small sample size:
- 117 people
- 4329 podcasts
Here’s what the statistics look like randomly.
Here’s what the statistics look like with the most listened/watched shows through to those that aren’t consumed at all.
So, based on this very small sample, only 10% of downloaded podcasts are consumed to any degree, and only 50% of those are consumed over 50%.
As far as we know, this is cutting edge information. I’m certainly not aware of any hard data about podcast consumption, because usually the statistics are based on number of downloads.
Over the next few weeks we’ll be playing with these statistics some more. Undoubtedly we’ll have much more data to play with, and we’ll have a pretty clear idea about how many people consume the podacsts they download.
October 15th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
would be interesting to see that data over a longer time period. i suspect i’m in your sample as i beta tested the scouta agent for windows. my own podcast download v listening habits are that i typically download a lot of podcasts and then listen to them over coming weeks. ie there’often s a delay between download and listen. eg this/next week i’m travelling so loaded up he ipod before leaving home but it is sync’d from my home pc so won’t be downloading any more this/next week but will be listening to a lot of them!
October 15th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
For sure Gavin. We’ll be running another analysis in another few weeks.
Saying that, the Agent actually takes into account any of the podcasts you have in your iTunes library, even if you listened to them weeks ago. So, unless you delete the podcasts straight after listening, the sync will take it into account no matter how long ago you listened to the show.
October 16th, 2007 at 3:05 am
i tend to delete most listened to podcasts over the weekend, allowing at least a day since listening to them so that the scouta agent has time to update my scouta profile to say i did listen to them
October 18th, 2007 at 2:05 pm
[…] According to Scouta’s Richard Giles, “Only 10% of downloaded podcasts are consumed to any degree, and only 50% of those are consumed over 50%.” Scouta’s numbers are based on information collected directly from iTunes. The Scouta Agent checks your iTunes library for downloaded podcasts, and then offer personalized recommendations based on what you listen to and watch. […]
October 18th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
I have a habit that might throw these stats off if I were a part of the study.
I download podcasts, sync them to my iPod and then once I’ve listened to them on the iPod, I delete them before syncing again. According to iTunes, I rarely listen to any of my podcasts ever, but I consumer about 30 a week on the iPod. Would this throw off the numbers? In a month it would show I’ve deleted almost 150 podcasts without listening to them.
October 18th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Hi Rob
You’re right. It wouldn’t show that you deleted them, the Agent doesn’t pay attention to that, but it wouldn’t add your listening habits.
Now, you might not be bother about that, but if you’re interested in getting personal recommendations then one option is to set up iTunes to keep the last x episodes, or just wait until after a sync with the Scouta Agent before deleting anything.
It’s a bit unfortunate, but there really isn’t another way given the way iTunes works.
Thanks for the feedback on how you consume podcasts though. It’s nice to know how people manage their libraries.
Rich
October 18th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Rich, there are ways out there to track iPod listens. Of course, this is also incomplete data because I don’t think it’s well known at what point in a show Apple decides you’ve listened to it.
http://scrobblepod.sourceforge.net/ - a utility for the Mac that reports to last.fm.
I like the suggestions service though. It comes in handy when I run out of shows.
October 19th, 2007 at 1:52 am
Thanks for the link Rob. I was always frustrated with the old scrobbler because it didn’t track listens on my iPod, which is where I consume most of my music, and podcasts.
I haven’t used that particular scrobbler, but if it works like the others it only tracks number of plays if you listen all the way through, not the actual amount of a show you listen to. That’s great for music, because you’re more than likely going to listen to tracks over and over again.
Our Agent pays attention to how much of a show you listen to or watch, not just if you listen all the way through, because when it comes to podcasts that information is important. In a lot of instances you’ll only listen to a show once, and you’re probably more interested in a show that you listened to 70% of, when compared to a show that you only listened to 5% of.
October 19th, 2007 at 7:42 pm
[…] According to Scouta’s Richard Giles, “Only 10% of downloaded podcasts are consumed to any degree, and only 50% of those are consumed over 50%.” […]
November 27th, 2007 at 6:54 am
[…] Just over a month ago I ran a quick analysis over Scouta’s data, and found that a small sample showed that possibly only 10% of downloaded podcasts are consumed to any degree, and only 50% of those are consumed over 50%: Are Only 10% of Podcast Downloads Consumed? […]
November 27th, 2007 at 6:57 am
[…] How Many People Listen To Podcasts Posted November 27, 2007 Just over a month ago I ran a quick analysis over Scouta’s data, and found that a small sample showed that possibly only 10% of downloaded podcasts are consumed to any degree, and only 50% of those are consumed over 50%: Are Only 10% of Podcast Downloads Consumed? […]
December 7th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
[…] There was a lot of talk about widget building, distribution and management platforms. All good stuff. I think some of the vendors did a bit much spruiking their own stuff rather than addressing the big questions, but you get that. It was good the the full lifecycle was represented, and I was delighted to see a lot of talk about metrics around widget usage rather than simply downloads, placements and impressions. This is getting towards the behaviour-based or participation-based metrics we are starting to get out of our scouta media recommendation platform. […]