Last year, Apple Podcasts introduced changes to how it counted audience levels for shows hosted on the platform. Some podcasters aren’t thrilled with the changes.
According to a report from Semafor’s Max Tani, This American Life host Ira Glass claims his podcast has experienced a drop of 20% due to the changes.
“I’m in favor of accuracy,” Glass said. “I’m not in favor of losing money.”
In September of last year, Apple began ending automatic downloads for users who had not listened to more than five episodes of a given show in a two-week span. The company gave no warning to podcasters of the change, which angered many in the industry.
This American Life — produced in collaboration with WBEZ, the NPR affiliate in Chicago — previously featured 4.5 million listeners per week, Glass claimed. He shared that the podcast now sees an audience of 3.5 million due to the changes. According to the latest rankings from Podtrac, the show ranks as the 13th most-listened to podcast in the nation.
