Getting started
Overview
PodAnalyst brings your Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube analytics into one place, with Iris, an AI analyst that answers your questions in plain English.
What PodAnalyst is
PodAnalyst pulls your Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube numbers into one place, so you can see how your show is actually growing without bouncing between three dashboards. On top of that sits Iris, an AI analyst that reads your real data and answers questions about your show in plain English.
The four numbers
Everything in PodAnalyst is built on four metrics. They appear across the Dashboard, Episodes, and your show's home page:
| metric | what it counts |
|---|---|
| Unique listeners | How many different people listened. The closest thing to an audience size. |
| Listening hours | Total time spent listening — the strongest signal that people stick around. |
| Plays | How many times episodes were started. Higher than listeners, since one person can play several episodes. |
| Followers | People who've subscribed, so new episodes arrive automatically. |
Every page lets you filter these by platform (Apple, Spotify, YouTube) and by time period.
How your data gets in
PodAnalyst doesn't ask for your passwords. Instead, you invite our data account as a read-only team member on Apple Podcasts Connect, Spotify for Creators, and YouTube Studio, and we pull your analytics from there. You can revoke access at any time from those same settings pages.
Because the platforms report on their own schedule, your first data can take a couple of hours to appear. That's normal — see Connecting your data.
Getting around
Every page in the app is covered by its own guide:
- Radar — your show's home page. Iris reads your latest numbers and writes up what's worth your attention. Start here. See Radar.
- Dashboard — the four metrics over time, plus your recent episodes and reviews. See Dashboard.
- Episodes — how each episode performed and how well it held its audience. See Episodes.
- Explore — Keywords, Charts, and Reviews: how people find your show, where it's charting, and what listeners are saying. See Keywords, Charts, Reviews.
- Readouts — turn a period into a branded document you can hand to someone else: the numbers, plus written commentary on each section, exported as a PDF or a slide deck. See Readouts.
Your plan
PodAnalyst comes in three plans — Community (free), Pro, and Network. The free plan tracks one podcast and shows your headline numbers from Apple and Spotify; Pro unlocks retention data, YouTube analytics, a longer episode history, CSV exports, the Network Roll-Up that shows every podcast in one view, and Readouts — branded PDF and slide deck exports of any period. Network adds custom roll-ups, where you group specific podcasts into sub-networks of your own. Above Network there's Enterprise — custom pricing and custom features, arranged by emailing support@podanalyst.com. See Plans and billing for the full comparison.
If you get stuck
Email support@podanalyst.com. For anything about a specific number on screen, ask Iris first — it can explain what it's looking at.