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Analytics Connections ​

All Your Numbers in One Place, Next to Your Rankings ​

Your listening numbers are scattered: Spotify for Creators has one set, Apple Podcasts Connect another, YouTube Studio a third, and your podcast host yet another. Analytics connections bring them into PodSEO, so you can see plays, listeners, followers and downloads on the same screen as your keyword rankings and visibility, and judge whether your SEO work is turning into an audience.

Every connection is free on every plan, including the Free plan. You can connect as many sources as apply to your show; each one adds its own tab.

To access: Click Analytics in the sidebar, just below Traction. The page has one tab per source: Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Hosting, Tracker (OP3), and hopr.fm. YouTube opens its own page, YouTube Insights. Each tab carries a step-by-step setup guide, so you can follow along in the app while you connect.

Who can connect: In a personal account, you can connect and disconnect everything. In an organization, only Admins and Owners can connect or disconnect a source; other team members can view the numbers.

Read-only access: PodSEO only reads statistics. It never publishes, edits or deletes anything on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or your host, and you never share a password with PodSEO.

Spotify for Creators ​

Spotify's own data on how listeners discover and play your show: where impressions come from, how many turn into plays, and who your listeners are.

How to connect ​

Your show needs to be linked to Spotify in PodSEO first (you can check this on the Distribution Health page).

  1. Open Analytics and select the Spotify tab. PodSEO shows a one-time code for your show. The code is valid for 30 days.
  2. In Spotify for Creators, go to Manage > Team and invite spotify@podseo.com.
  3. Paste the PodSEO code into the invite's Title field. This is how PodSEO knows the invite comes from you.
  4. Set Analytics to Reader and leave everything else (Episodes, Interact, Monetize, Settings) on No access.
  5. Send the invite. PodSEO checks for new invites every 10 minutes, so your Spotify tab fills in shortly after.

If Spotify refuses the connection (for example because the team access isn't set as described above), the Spotify tab shows a card explaining what to fix. Correct the access in Spotify, or send a new invite, then connect again.

What you'll see ​

  • Daily plays over time
  • Discovery: impressions from Search, Home, Library and Other, and the funnel from impression to play, so you can see how often being seen turns into being listened to
  • Engagement: new followers, hours listened (compared with the previous 30 days), and new versus returning listeners
  • Audience: age, gender, countries, regions, cities, devices and listening apps
  • Episodes: each episode's impressions, impressions from Search, and plays

Impressions from Search are the most direct link to your SEO work: they show how often your show appears when people search on Spotify.

How fresh ​

Spotify data is updated daily. The first read covers the last 90 days. Discovery, engagement and audience figures use Spotify's own last-30-days windows.

Disconnecting ​

Click Disconnect on the Spotify tab. PodSEO stops reading your Spotify analytics and your Spotify numbers no longer show anywhere in PodSEO; PodSEO keeps them for when you reconnect. To end PodSEO's access completely, also remove spotify@podseo.com from your show's team in Spotify for Creators.

Apple Podcasts Connect ​

Apple's data on plays, listeners, followers and how much of each episode people actually hear.

How to connect ​

Your show must be listed on Apple Podcasts.

  1. Open Analytics and select the Apple Podcasts tab.
  2. In Apple Podcasts Connect, go to Account > People and invite applepodcasts@podseo.com.
  3. Give the invite the Analyst role and select your show.
  4. Send the invitation. PodSEO checks for new invitations every 10 minutes.

Proving the show is yours. Before showing Apple data, PodSEO checks that the show belongs to you:

  • If the owner email in your RSS feed matches a verified email on your PodSEO account (or on your organization's account), the check is automatic.
  • Otherwise, PodSEO sends a one-time link to the owner email in your RSS feed. The link is valid for 14 days. Whoever reads that mailbox clicks Yes, this is us to confirm, or No, I don't know PodSEO to refuse.

Once one show is proven, other shows from the same Apple Podcasts Connect team are approved too.

What you'll see ​

  • Plays, Hours listened and Listeners for the last 60 days, with a daily plays chart
  • Followers: total, gained, lost and net
  • Time listened by followers compared with everyone else
  • Monthly history of Plays, Listeners, Engaged listeners and Hours
  • Episodes table with Plays, Listeners, Engaged, Avg. listened, First 7 days and First 30 days for each episode, plus a retention curve per episode showing where listeners drop off
  • Audience: countries, top cities, engaged versus casual listeners, and followers versus other listeners

Use the 30, 90 and 365 days tabs to change the period.

How fresh ​

Apple data is read daily. PodSEO keeps a rolling 60 days of daily data plus monthly history going back as far as Apple keeps it.

Disconnecting ​

Click Disconnect on the Apple Podcasts tab. PodSEO stops reading your Apple analytics and your Apple numbers no longer show anywhere in PodSEO; PodSEO keeps them for when you reconnect. To end PodSEO's access completely, also remove applepodcasts@podseo.com from Account > People in Apple Podcasts Connect.

YouTube ​

How people find and watch your podcast on YouTube, including the real search terms that bring viewers in.

How to connect ​

  1. Open Analytics and select the YouTube tab (or click it to open the YouTube Insights page).
  2. Click Connect YouTube and sign in with the Google account (or Brand Account) that owns your podcast's channel.
  3. Click Activate Insights. PodSEO imports the last 6 months of your channel's data.

What you'll see ​

  • Views, Watch hours, Subscribers (net) and the % of views from YouTube search, with a daily views chart
  • Traffic sources and external referrers
  • Search terms YouTube reports, compared with the keywords you track in PodSEO
  • Episode-to-video matching, with keyword-based title suggestions for your videos
  • Audience: countries, age and gender, cities, US states, operating systems and playback locations
  • Your podcast playlists

Use the 7, 28 and 90 days tabs to change the period.

How fresh ​

Core figures are updated daily; the breakdowns (such as audience and traffic details) weekly.

Free plan limit ​

On the Free plan you see channel performance, one reported search term and your latest episode. Paid plans show everything.

Disconnecting ​

Your YouTube data is deleted when the authorization is revoked. For the full walkthrough of YouTube, see YouTube Insights.

Hosting (Spreaker and Buzzsprout) ​

Downloads straight from your podcast host. Spreaker and Buzzsprout are supported today, and more hosts are coming.

How to connect ​

The Hosting tab appears when your podcast's feed is hosted on Spreaker or Buzzsprout.

Spreaker

  1. Open Analytics and select the Hosting tab.
  2. Click Sign in to Spreaker.
  3. Approve the request with Authorize. You're sent back to PodSEO and the first sync begins.

Buzzsprout

  1. In Buzzsprout, open your profile and its API section, then copy the API token of the account that hosts your podcast.
  2. In PodSEO, open Analytics and select the Hosting tab.
  3. Paste the token and click Connect Buzzsprout. PodSEO matches your podcast through its RSS feed and the first sync begins.

A Buzzsprout token can also edit your Buzzsprout account. PodSEO stores it encrypted and only uses it to read reports, never to change anything.

What you'll see ​

  • Downloads, Daily average and Best day for the period, with a daily chart
  • Episodes with Total downloads, First 7 days and First 30 days, so you can compare launches fairly
  • Unique listeners per week, as Spreaker reports them (Spreaker only: Buzzsprout doesn't report unique listeners)
  • Who listens: countries, apps, devices and operating systems, when your Spreaker plan includes them. With Buzzsprout: countries, devices and the apps listeners download each episode with, day by day

How fresh ​

Downloads are synced daily. Spreaker audience details refresh weekly and the first sync backfills the last 365 days. Buzzsprout audience details refresh daily and the first sync reads all the history Buzzsprout still has.

Disconnecting ​

Click Disconnect on the Hosting tab. PodSEO stops reading your downloads and deletes the access it stored. Your host numbers no longer show anywhere in PodSEO; PodSEO keeps them for when you reconnect.

  • Spreaker: PodSEO also asks Spreaker to revoke its access. You can check the connected apps in your Spreaker settings.
  • Buzzsprout: Buzzsprout has no way for PodSEO to revoke a token. To invalidate it, delete or regenerate it in your Buzzsprout profile.

OP3 (Tracker tab) ​

OP3 is a free, open podcast download tracker that many podcasters add to their feed as a prefix.

How to connect ​

There's nothing to connect. If your RSS feed already carries the OP3 prefix, PodSEO finds it on its own (it checks your feed weekly) and the Tracker tab shows your numbers.

What you'll see ​

  • Downloads per episode at 1, 7 and 30 days after release
  • Your Latest, Typical and Best episode, so you can tell at a glance whether a new episode is doing better or worse than usual
  • Listening apps (web browsers are excluded)

How fresh ​

OP3 data is public, so anyone can look at it, and it covers about 60 days of history.

Disconnecting ​

Because PodSEO reads public OP3 data, there's no connection to remove. To stop OP3 tracking altogether, remove the OP3 prefix in your host's settings.

hopr.fm (PodSEO's Download Prefix) ​

hopr.fm is PodSEO's own download prefix. Like other analytics prefixes, it sits in front of your audio files and counts each download on its way to the listener. It's useful when your host doesn't give you good download numbers, or when you want a second, independent count.

How to connect ​

  1. Open Analytics and select the hopr.fm tab.
  2. Click Get my prefix. PodSEO creates your personal prefix in the form https://hopr.fm/k/<your key>/.
  3. In your podcast host, find the prefix or analytics prefix field (hosts name it differently) and paste the prefix there. It works alongside any other prefixes you already use.
  4. Save. Back in PodSEO you can ask it to re-check your feed, to confirm the prefix is in place.

What you'll see ​

  • Downloads for the period, with the change compared with the previous period
  • Apps, countries and episodes
  • Not counted: the requests that were left out and why: cloud apps, servers, bots, preloads, and requests with no user agent. A toggle lets you include cloud apps in the count if you want to.

Only your account can see your hopr.fm reports.

How downloads are counted ​

hopr.fm counts one download per day, per episode, per listener. To tell listeners apart without storing who they are, each listener is turned into a one-way code that changes every day. The method follows the IAB v2.3 measurement guidelines as far as a redirect prefix allows, but hopr.fm is not IAB certified.

Listener privacy ​

hopr.fm only redirects the request to your audio file. It sets no cookies, deletes raw logs and per-listener records after 35 days, never sells data or builds ad profiles, and podcasters only ever see totals. The full listener privacy policy is at podseo.com/hoprfm/privacy.

How fresh ​

Downloads are processed throughout the day.

Disconnecting ​

Remove the hopr.fm prefix from your host's settings. Downloads that no longer pass through the prefix aren't counted.

FAQ ​

Do I have to share my passwords with PodSEO? ​

No. Spotify and Apple Podcasts are connected by inviting a PodSEO address to your show's team with read-only analytics access. YouTube and Spreaker use their own sign-in screens, where you approve access directly with Google or Spreaker. Buzzsprout uses an API token you copy from your Buzzsprout profile, not your password. PodSEO never sees your passwords, and you can disconnect at any time.

Which podcast hosts can I connect? ​

Spreaker and Buzzsprout today; more hosts are coming. If your host isn't supported yet, you can still get download numbers from OP3 (if your feed uses it) or by adding the free hopr.fm prefix, and connect Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube regardless of where you host.

What's the difference between hopr.fm and OP3? ​

Both are download prefixes that count downloads on the way to the listener. OP3 is an independent, open service: its data is public to anyone and PodSEO shows about 60 days of it, with downloads per episode at 1, 7 and 30 days. hopr.fm is PodSEO's own prefix: its reports are private to your account, show apps, countries, episodes and a breakdown of what wasn't counted, and you choose whether to count cloud apps. You can use both at the same time.

Is this really free? ​

Yes. Every connection is available on every plan, including Free. The one difference is YouTube: on the Free plan you see channel performance, one reported search term and your latest episode, while paid plans show every search term and all your recent episodes.

Why don't my numbers match exactly between sources? ​

Each platform measures something different: Spotify and Apple count plays and listeners in their own apps, YouTube counts views, and hosts and prefixes count downloads across all apps. That's why PodSEO shows each source on its own tab instead of mixing them into one number.

I'm a team member and can't connect. Why? ​

In an organization, only Admins and Owners can connect or disconnect analytics sources. Ask one of them to set up the connection; once it's done, everyone on the team can see the numbers.

Pro Tips ​

  • Start with the platforms where most of your audience listens, then add your host or a download prefix for a count across all apps.
  • Compare Spotify's impressions from Search with your Keyword Tracker rankings: rising rankings should show up as more search impressions.
  • Use the First 7 days and First 30 days columns (Apple and your host) to compare episodes fairly, regardless of how long ago they were published.
  • Check the Apple retention curve for episodes with a big drop early on: it shows where listeners leave, so you can compare it with how the episode opens.
  • If your host isn't supported yet, add the hopr.fm prefix: it takes a minute and gives you download numbers from that day on.