There are multiple companies that will host your podcast, including Soundcloud, Blubrry, Podbean, Podomatic, and even Amazon S3. I personally use Libsyn as it was highly recommended to me. And now, after using them for almost 3 years, I can say they are a dream to work with and well worth it. If you choose to go with Libsyn, make sure to use the promotional code “brain” and you’ll get the rest of this month, and the entire next month free!
Anyway, here is an overview of the stats that Libsyn provides:
Total downloads by month and all-time:
Total downloads per episode / per month:
Here’s a graph they provide that helps you watch trends. It’s adjustable as you can name any date range, or use the sliders at the bottom to change the range as well:
View daily, weekly, and monthly totals with this chart. Notice there’s an Export button below almost every graph, chart or table. This allows you to export the data into a spreadsheet:
Here’s a pie chart showing you which countries download your show the most: 
For more detailed numbers on which countries your show is most popular, use this table:
The darker the country on this map, the more downloads you are getting from that particular country:
If you want to drill down and get even more precise data per city or region, Libsyn provides that too:
There are technology stats as well, showing you which devices and browsers people are using to download your show:
A more detailed breakdown of the technology stats (update August 2016, Libsyn can now be used to create YouTube videos from your podcast!):
The Referrers table is handy when you want to know on which sites people are finding your show:
Well, I hope this gives you some insight to the stats that Libsyn provides. I pay $20 a month for their 400MB option for my main show, and another $15 a month for a second feed that contains private episodes for my membership site. Both feeds can be accessed with one login, and I can “switch shows” while I’m logged in to make it easier. The best thing about hosting with Libsyn is that after 30 days, my upload space resets and I start off using 0 megabytes. This allows my episodes to stay online indefinitely.
Your episodes are basically sound files that stay on their servers, so essentially you are taking up space on their hard drives. But you don’t pay any more than your monthly fee – it’s a great deal.
Again, I have used Libsyn for almost three years as of this writing and I’ve never been disappointed. If you choose to use them, again make sure to use the promo code “brain” so you get the rest of this month the entire next month free! Otherwise good luck in your search for the perfect media host.
Have you figured out a way to show a geographic stat per day? Sometimes I see a bump in traffic on a particular day, but I can’t tell what regions that is coming from. Thanks for any help.
Yes, I think I have! But it may not give you the exact thing you’re looking for.
You can select a location and see the spikes for that location on a given day, but you can’t do the reverse (select a spike and tell which location gave you the most downloads)
Here’s how to drill down to a specific location to see the spikes per day:
1. In Libsyn, click on Stats > Show > Geographic
2. Scroll down to the World Map and click on the country you’re interested in
3. Scroll down again and click on the state, province or territory
4. Now you can see the downloads per day for that region
It’s a neat option, and it will give you some good info, but I’m not sure there’s a way to get exactly what you’re looking for.
Hope this helps!
Not exactly but that does help. Thanks!
You bet. Yeah, it’s not ideal, but you may be able to do some exporting and collate the data on spreadsheets. Haven’t thought about it too deeply, but this process could give you some interesting historical analysis.
Two stats Libsyn could work on for us users. A geographic stat per day and the amount of time listeners spend listening to the podcast. =D
Would LOVE to see Libsyn have a stat for the amount of time listened. I have no clue why they won’t share that. Stitcher shares that (it’s sometimes depressing to look at though), and it’s super valuable info.
At what point do listeners stop listening? That would be golden info us podcasters as it would help us create more palatable shows!
does libsyn track twitter post clicks to the episodes? Say if you link a post in a tweet does libsyn count that as a download or site visit?
If you use the libsyn link to the mp3 in a tweet, libsyn will count it as a download when its clicked.
Have you gents ever experienced a mad rush on an older episode of your podcast? Like, an episode that had a 100-200 downloads, but months later suddenly gets an additional 2000-3000 downloads? A buddy of mine experienced this with his podcast recently and we’re still trying to figure out if it’s legitimate – or if it’s some sort of web-crawler/bot/whatever mucking with the numbers. Thanks for any input you can provide. GTO
This is typically due to a trend in keywords for your episode. OR, yes, a bot(s) can do that too.
Can you trace the source? What media host are you using? Do they have stats on where the downloads came from?
I had a previous guest do some paid marketing for their appearance on my show and I had a completely abnormal spike in downloads for 3 days. It was a massive, unnatural jump.
However… that jump must have been bots because the listenership didn’t grow afterward. I would say that if your listenership (downloads) don’t grow after a spike like that, you are looking at automation of some sort (bots). OR, you have a terrible show and never attract new listeners.
Let’s hope it’s the former, not the latter.
Thanks for your thoughts, Paul. My buddy hasn’t been paying for the stats from Libsyn, so the spike will probably remain a mystery. I think it’s cool that you experienced a spike & figured out that it was the boost from a guest’s paid marketing. Ahh, to have guests like that on every show! 🙂
Yeah, but I have a feeling the marketing brought robot clicks! So I’m not sure it was helpful. But yes, to have guests that market your show? That would be great! 😉
I was wondering if Libsyn showed unique downloads per month. Looks like the answer is “no” right now.
Hey Hilda, Libsyn shows daily, weekly and monthly downloads. So the answer is “yes”! 😉 There is a Monthly tab you can open up and see those stats as well.