iOS 17 changes how Apple Podcast users auto-download.
From Apple:
Before iOS 17, when a listener would unpause automatic downloads, the system would automatically download all unplayed episodes. With iOS 17, Apple Podcasts will not download previous episodes and will resume automatically downloading new episodes.
Apple Podcast listeners will now auto-download significantly fewer back-catalogue episodes, resulting in a 10-30% decrease in monthly downloads for most podcasts. The larger the podcast’s back-catalogue the greater the impact.
For advertisers, this means fewer impressions will be served to Apple Podcasts auto-downloads that likely were not heard. This affects run-of-show / impression / back-catalogues buys more than new-episode / episodic / baked-in buys.
Prior, we would see most run-of-shows campaigns deliver up to 20-40% of impressions to ~3% of listeners, eg:
Now, we see the same campaigns delivering 15-25% of impressions to 3% of listeners — same campaign now:
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☝ Podscribe flags this issue as High Concentration (definition).
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This is likely a positive for advertisers, since a greater percentage of impressions in back-catalogue campaigns will be listened to. The performance of these impressions that go to such a small percent of listeners has been a fraction of other impressions.
This also highlights the importance of trusted, 3rd party verification.
As of mid December 2023, it’s estimated at least 2/3 of iPhone users have updated to iOS17. Stay tuned here for adoption updates!