fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
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Post by fredrix on Mar 27, 2018 12:40:54 GMT -8
Here are some specifics. In September/October of last year, the HJRP (the Friday advice show) was getting anywhere between 3000-3500 downloads per episode within two weeks of release (some episode got as high as 4000). Actual Plays were averaging between 1100-1200 per episode within two weeks of release. In the last couple months, HJRP gets around 2000 downloads per episode within two weeks of release, while APs are now averaging about 900 per epiode. Just had a thought about stats. Is the same number of APs being released as Sept/Oct last year? Or more?
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Post by Stu Venable on Mar 27, 2018 12:51:33 GMT -8
vyrrkThe short answer is time. It takes about 30 minutes to put up an episode of anything, and part of that time is spent waiting. What I've been doing lately is wait for 4 or so sessions, then while one is rendering, I'm doing show notes and post info on anohter, when one is uploading, I'm rendering the next, while editing the ID3 tags on a third, etc. That way I can get about 2+ hours of stuff done (including waiting) in about an hour. I would LOVE to automate the process, but there's a step in there where I listen to make sure there aren't any egregious audio problems. And there are so many conditional changes (in the tags, show notes, file names, etc), that makes is very difficult to set up.
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Post by Stu Venable on Mar 27, 2018 12:54:39 GMT -8
Here are some specifics. In September/October of last year, the HJRP (the Friday advice show) was getting anywhere between 3000-3500 downloads per episode within two weeks of release (some episode got as high as 4000). Actual Plays were averaging between 1100-1200 per episode within two weeks of release. In the last couple months, HJRP gets around 2000 downloads per episode within two weeks of release, while APs are now averaging about 900 per epiode. Just had a thought about stats. Is the same number of APs being released as Sept/Oct last year? Or more? I would have to check, but I think sometime around November/December is when we started three per week, rather than two. I do realize, and may have mentioned, that the more content we make in a week, the more thinned out the current audience will get. And that most likely accounts for much of the AP listenership declines. But not the main show declines.
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fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
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Post by fredrix on Mar 27, 2018 13:39:49 GMT -8
Yeah but it’s might. Let’s say I have ... six hours of commuting a week I dedicate to HJ listening. I’m good for the main show and one AP. But then your smorgasbord of APs comes up with a game I have really wanted to try, but my regular AP is getting really exciting, sooo maybe I give up the regular show for a while ... i’ll be back though.
Except there’s this other L5R AP starting up, and on the regular show they kept saying how good the old one was ...
It’s conjecture because I generally only listen to APs when there in NOTHING else, but people do like that AP goodness.
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bobcatt
Apprentice Douchebag
Patron
An infinite number of monkeys can't be wrong...
Posts: 81
Preferred Game Systems: AD&D 1e, 2e, 5e, Top Secret/S.I., Classic Traveller
Currently Playing: nothing at all :-(
Currently Running: completely stalled doing 5e via Roll20
Favorite Species of Monkey: Barrel of
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Post by bobcatt on Mar 27, 2018 16:12:12 GMT -8
Stu Venable Is it possible that the reporting algorithm(s) for the distribution services have changed? Have any of the other hosts in your Star Chamber of podcasters experienced similar stat reduction? CinC
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Post by Stu Venable on Mar 27, 2018 17:21:33 GMT -8
Yeah, that was touched on earlier in this thread.
The IAB came up with reporting standards for Podcasting stats, and my stats provider (blubrry) adopted those in December (I think). That accounts for some, and a precipitous drop. But a slower decline has continued since then. And I doubt it was a phased implementation of the new standards, as the owner of blubrry was on the IAB committee (I listen to one of his podcasts, and he said everything was in place for the change and it was implemented immediately and fully -- at least that's my understanding).
In the unlikely even this WAS the reason (which I doubt), we've still received a ton of very useful feedback in this thread.
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Post by Kimi on Mar 27, 2018 17:25:56 GMT -8
Stu Venable Is it possible that the reporting algorithm(s) for the distribution services have changed? Have any of the other hosts in your Star Chamber of podcasters experienced similar stat reduction? CinC It's possible Bobcat, but we haven't been able to find any definitive proof of that yet. Usually changes like that are posted/reported somewhere or rumors of them float around podcasting communities. We aren't seeing or hearing anything. And it is possible that we are just producing too much content. We may slow our roll on how many APs are going at once to see if that helps. (NOT CANCELLING SHOWS!)
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Icel
Initiate Douchebag
Posts: 11
Preferred Game Systems: Dungeon World
Currently Playing: Dungeon World
Currently Running: Dungeon World
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Post by Icel on Mar 27, 2018 21:43:06 GMT -8
Yeah, that was touched on earlier in this thread. The IAB came up with reporting standards for Podcasting stats, and my stats provider (blubrry) adopted those in December (I think). That accounts for some, and a precipitous drop. But a slower decline has continued since then. And I doubt it was a phased implementation of the new standards, as the owner of blubrry was on the IAB committee (I listen to one of his podcasts, and he said everything was in place for the change and it was implemented immediately and fully -- at least that's my understanding). In the unlikely even this WAS the reason (which I doubt), we've still received a ton of very useful feedback in this thread. Also at the same time this was happening, Apple introduced their Podcast Analytics. Maybe just a coincidence.
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mrcj
Journeyman Douchebag
Posts: 173
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Post by mrcj on Mar 28, 2018 8:25:45 GMT -8
I think you may have a hard time finding the one or two reasons for fewer downloads, particularly because there have been a large number of changes over the last six to twelve months. I'll try to list some changes, and I'll probably be wrong: More Actual Plays More diverse cast Fewer appearances by some hosts; like JIB and Proby Tim You tube live stream Moving to the table
There are likely others.
For me:
I have not changed my listening habits but to the main Friday night podcast.
However content on the other podcasts that I listen to have exploded. I'm a soccer referee and Major League Soccer fan, one of the pods listen to increased from once a week to twice, another went from two times a week to five. SI restarted their podcast series and went to once or twice a week. Alexi Lalas restarted his pod. One of these pods through patreon has made producing the podcast their job.
I imagine that people dropping into podcasting as a career in a niche like soccer has to be happening in other areas of podcasting. So you may just be facing increased competition for time across the board.
This has affected my AP listening habits. Basically I listen only to L5R at this point. I don't have time to listen to the others.
To me it just seems that you increased your APS at the same time everyone else is also increasing their content. But there are still the same number of hours in a day.
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Post by pablohuds on Mar 28, 2018 8:29:12 GMT -8
Do you listen less often? If so, why?
I used to download a while ago, but now I just watch on Youtube - so no more downloading if that is what counts. I have got into a bit of a funk in recent months and so was unable to listen as much as I used too. Though, because of that I have missed a lot of the AP content, so in a way I am waiting until the next wave start up again (I think that is what is happening).Please the role of the chatroom in the APs makes it seem a little less attractive as it emphases the gap between people who listen in real time and those that don't want to wake up at 4am (I am in Germany) and then it takes a couple of days for me to get around to listening. Its not as large a problem in the main show as that always felt like it was meant to have some form of audience interaction.
Did you unsubscribe? (you’re probably not reading this if you did, but who knows). If so, why?
Never did in the first place, always either downloaded off the website or Youtube.
Do you listen to other shows in lieu of HJRP? What is it you’re getting there that you’re not getting here?
I listen to RPPR for the AP's, which to me feels like how I play games at home, which your RPs get across as well. Though I don't listen as much to their original podcast.
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Post by ayslyn on Mar 28, 2018 8:31:50 GMT -8
Out of curiosity, Stu, could you elaborate on what the metrics track? Is it just downloads, or do they also manage to track listened/ possibly time listened?
What platforms are included? ITunes? Google Play? Stitcher? Others that I am unfamiliar with?
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Post by Stu Venable on Mar 28, 2018 8:52:40 GMT -8
The main stats I get are for downloads: any time someone hits my server, requesting a download, or progressive download (which is often what happens when streaming). The IAB rules have all kinds of criteria for what constitutes a download. It has to be a certain number of bytes, etc.
A few services -- most notably Stitcher -- download the file once from us and serve it to their listeners from their own server. I have the ability to check our Stitcher stats, and there's only about a dozen or so people using that platform.
Stitcher (as well as the Podcast Connect service from Apple) allows me to see how long people listen and when they tend to stop listening. While interesting, they're not really useful, as the sample size is very small. For the Apple Podcast App, I've read that the stats are only coming from people using that App on the iPhone X. So that's a tiny slice of listeners.
In the future, the Apple stats could be very useful, once people modernize their phones.
And to answer your question, the download stats should reflect any services that does't re-host the file, which is almost all of them (except Stitcher).
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jimto
Supporter
Posts: 246
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Post by jimto on Mar 28, 2018 10:00:29 GMT -8
I still listen to the main show, but now I listen on youtube while at work. APs are not my thing and I have never listened to them.
The show is more focused now for sure, but that's not a bad thing, and tangents still happen, which is fine. I still enjoy the show.
One one hand I like the diversity, I like hearing new takes from new hosts, but the downside to that is the show does not listen the same as it used to. Gone are the days where I'd head out on my Harley come Saturday morning to go get some coffee with the same old reliable group of friends in my ears. Again, not a bad thing, it's just that some of the newer hosts aren't on a lot, or not for a few shows in a row, so I feel like I don't "know" them yet, I don't have that casual familiarity with them I have with I hear Stu, Stork, Kimi, CADave, Tappy, Jib, Gina, or Mr. Skechers.
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Post by ayslyn on Mar 28, 2018 14:19:33 GMT -8
The main stats I get are for downloads: any time someone hits my server, requesting a download, or progressive download (which is often what happens when streaming). The IAB rules have all kinds of criteria for what constitutes a download. It has to be a certain number of bytes, etc. A few services -- most notably Stitcher -- download the file once from us and serve it to their listeners from their own server. I have the ability to check our Stitcher stats, and there's only about a dozen or so people using that platform. Stitcher (as well as the Podcast Connect service from Apple) allows me to see how long people listen and when they tend to stop listening. While interesting, they're not really useful, as the sample size is very small. For the Apple Podcast App, I've read that the stats are only coming from people using that App on the iPhone X. So that's a tiny slice of listeners. In the future, the Apple stats could be very useful, once people modernize their phones. And to answer your question, the download stats should reflect any services that does't re-host the file, which is almost all of them (except Stitcher). *nods* So, for the most part, you're getting a pretty complete picture of who's at least downloading the cast, and they seem to be less concerned with what happens once they do so.
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Post by Stu Venable on Mar 28, 2018 19:07:22 GMT -8
It's mostly because the download stats come from traffic to my server. There is a movement to try to get those who make podcatchers to adopt a standard of activity reporting (starts, stops, length listened, etc), but obviously there are privacy concerns there.
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