Navigating the IAB Tech Lab 2.1 Guidelines for Podcasters

So inevitably, this association quickly became interested in the podcast world.

Developed by IAB Tech Lab, the Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines were developed to establish a set of uniformed metrics principles for audience measurement in podcasting. Just to put everyone in agreement 😉

The most up-to-date standard is the Tech Lab 2.1 Standard. Companies that meet all the technical specifications of this standard are awarded a certification.

And guess what… drumroll please… 

At Ausha, we are now officially certified by the IAB Tech Lab for Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines 2.1 💪

Great News for Ausha Podcasters

While we’re super proud to achieve this certification, the real winners are you, our podcasters! 🔥 Here’s how you benefit from it:

• You get an even more accurate and demanding method of calculating audiences. Every podcaster needs top-notch data! 🕵️

• Your statistics are aligned across international audiences. That means you can present your data to a potential international sponsor anywhere in the world. 🌍

The Nitty Gritty- How a “Download” is Counted

Ok, woohoo to being IAB Tech Lab Podcast Measurement 2.1 certified, but how does this concretely play out? The key to all of this is what counts as a ‘download.’ After all, that’s what advertisers care about– are their promotions actually reaching ears. 👂

Here’s how it works:

When a listener starts playing one of your episodes from a listening platform like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, information is sent back to the host platform, in this case, us, Ausha. 👋

Then, based on that information, the hosting platform determines if it was a ‘listen’ or not. This is where the requirements of the IAB Tech Lab Podcast Mesurement 2.1 guidelines apply.

IAB Tech Lab takes into account 4 metrics to validate an audience:

#1 The minimum listening time

👉 IAB Tech Lab Podcast Measurement 2.1 guidelines counts a listen as 1 minute of playback (versus 1 second using other calculation methods).

Sometimes other hosting platforms will count 1 second of playback as a ‘listen.’ Sometimes other hosting platforms will count a download as a ‘listen’ without the listener ever pressing ’play’! ▶️

You know when a person subscribes to a podcast via a listening platform and each new episode is automatically downloaded to their device? 📱Those don’t count as a ‘listen’ under IAB Tech Lab Podcast Mesurement 2.1 either.

The listener has to play the podcast for at least 60 seconds in order for it to count as a ‘listen.’

By counting a ‘listen’ from 60 seconds onwards, robo-plays or automatic downloads are removed from your total listens. This way you are sure to present a number of listens as close to reality as possible. 💪

Yes, 60 seconds can seem a long time in the podcast world, but don’t stress! We’ve got all kinds of tips to help you create an excellent podcast intro that will hook in your listeners! 👌

#2 The 24-hour window

👉 The international standard IAB Tech Lab Podcast Measurement 2.1 counts one person’s multiple listening sessions of one episode within 24 hours as one ‘listen.’

If a listener starts playing an episode, pauses it, and then resumes playing it within 24 hours, then only one ‘listen’ is counted. 

For example, sometimes people press pause in the middle of playing an episode in order to have a brief conversation with their cat, and then they resume their listening. That is counted as just one ‘listen,’ which makes sense.

If, on the other hand, they resume listening more than 24 hours later, then 2 ‘listens’ are counted!  This screens out attempts to inflate ‘listen’ numbers by looping episodes.

(So don’t even try to loop your episodes, you’ll just tire yourself for nothing. 😉)

#3 “User Agents” and “IP Addresses” filters

👉 The international standard IAB Tech Lab Podcast Measurement 2.1 involves two filters to avoid duplicate ‘listen’ counts.

Let’s first look at the “User Agents” filter. 🕵️♂️

A “user agent” is a message that is sent by your device to your web browser. When you click on the link of a podcast episode for example, you send a user agent to your browser. Don’t worry, you really don’t need to know all the technical details. 

All you need to know is the user agents filter is a tool to screen out multiple ‘listens’ generated by bots. 🤖

The second filter, the “IP Addresses” filter, has a similar function.

An IP address is a bit like an identity card for your device. If the same IP address is used over and over again to download and listen to an episode, then there’s a good chance that it is a bot playing the episode over and over, not a human.

Together, these two filters really sort out bots vs. human ‘listens.’ 

Here’s an example: If an episode is downloaded 10 times, by 6 user agents using different IP addresses, then under the IAB Tech Lab Podcast Measurement 2.1 guidelines, that counts as 6 ‘listens.’ Not 10. Not 1. But 6! 👌

To learn more about how we count your audience on Ausha, read our help center article on this topic.

Will my audience notice a difference?

Your audience will be blissfully unaware of any changes from Ausha being IAB Tech Lab Podcast Measurement 2.1 certified.  😁

Nothing will change on their end. Same great content, in the same great format, by the same great podcaster (you!).

Final word

We are super proud to be the very first French podcast company to earn the IAB Tech Lab Podcast Measurement 2.1 certification, and we see it as a natural evolution as we expand internationally.

Be sure to read our podcast downloads blog post to learn more about how to analyze your download numbers and what they mean in terms of your podcast success.

You can always count on us to have the most cutting-edge technology for hosting, promoting, and monetizing your podcast. 💜

–

Ausha joins the list of IAB Tech Lab compliant companies!