The podcast industry is about to take a bite out of a formerly forbidden fruit when Apple shares its podcast listener data with publishers this fall, and it’s sure to be a hot topic at the IAB’s annual podcast upfront in New York City on Thursday.
In June, Apple said it would share aggregated online and offline listening behavior with podcast publishers for all episodes downloaded through iTunes and its Podcasts app for iOS as part of its iOS 11 update. That’s huge for the podcast industry: Apple captures over half of all podcast listening, but previously kept its listener data in a black box.
Apple’s analytics will provide publishers with a breakdown of listener behavior for content consumed through its app, marking points at which listeners started, skipped or dropped off an episode. It will also share details around whether or not a listener is also a subscriber to that show or if an episode was listened to on or offline.
Most importantly, Apple will tell…