As to your Qs.

Think of podcasting as your own radio show where you can talk about whatever you want, when you want available to anyone with internet access.

A "listen" is an individual download of an episode that has been filtered to establish that -- among other things -- enough of the episode was downloaded to constitute a real person listening. This term may be used interchangeably with “download”. A "unique listen" is a listen that has occurred to a specific podcast episode from an identified individual through a single (UTC-based) day. For example, if the individual has performed a listen the same podcast on the same UTC-based day twice, that will result in two listens and one unique listen. If the same person listens to the same episode the following day again, it will count as 3 listens and 2 unique listens.

A podcast RSS feed allows users to subscribe to a podcast in order to listen to it without visiting the exact website where it is located. A podcast RSS feed also updates subscribers when new episodes are uploaded, so subscribers never have to go searching for the new episodes.

In Australia the average podcast consumer listens to 6 podcasts a week, roughly 4 hours and 18 minutes. *The Infinite Dial 2019 Australia

In Australia the home is the most popular place to listen, with 59% of listeners tuning in there. 36% listen while travelling, 28% listen at work and 21% while working out or at the gym. *Australian Podcasting Study, PodcastOne

True crime, music, news and current affairs, comedy and sport.

Apple Podcasts is still the dominant app for listening, though its share has declined from 80% + to 63% in the past few years. The remainder come from other iOS and Android apps such as Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast and Pocket Casts.

During an average 4 week period, 68% of Australian podcasts are downloaded on a mobile device, 21% happen on a desktop and 11% happen on a tablet. Of note: the rise of smart speakers sees more consumption through these devices.

CPM is a common method for pricing web ads even outside of podcasts. CPM stands for Cost Per Mille, or cost per thousand impressions.

Podcast impressions are measured by downloads: how many times an episode that contains an ad is downloaded. An ad in an episode that is downloaded 100,000 times can be considered to have 100,000 impressions.

Measurement depends on the type of advertiser and campaign objectives. Some of the more common tracking methods are outlined below:

Offer codes are tied to a discount or bonus. Unique offer codes are used for podcasts so that responses are easily attributed: simply count the times the offer code was used!

Custom URLs are primarily easy to track. Only share a custom URL on a podcast and traffic to that URL can be attributed to the podcast ad. They can also be used to trigger a discount or offer.

Check-out surveys are great when advertisers don’t have special offers. Accuracy can be improved by proactively asking listeners to fill out the survey.

Conversations through social media can be a strong indicator of a branding campaign’s success. Look for increased online conversations around topics your brand is championing, as well as branded hashtags and tagging during the period of the campaign. Also allow for a period after the campaign as listeners might not hear the podcast when it’s immediately released.

Website traffic is another good indicator of listeners who are engaged with a brand. Even if a brand has set up a custom landing page, advertisers should look at overall site traffic during a campaign period, plus a few weeks. Some listeners may only remember a company’s main URL or use a search engine to find a site, which are not directly trackable.

Podcasts include audio ads, recorded as either a live host endorsement or pre-recorded clip that can be inserted at the beginning (pre-roll), middle (mid-roll) and end (end-roll) of the show.

The most up-to-date version of the IAB Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines can be found here.