They Just Changed What a 'Play' Means In Podcasting. Did You Notice?
From Podmastery: podcasting insights and advice for indie creators by The Podmaster (Neal Veglio)
June 16, 2026 · 9 min · Episode 82
About this episode
Neal Veglio discusses the recent changes in podcast metrics and what they mean for indie podcasters.
Somebody just moved the goalposts on podcast metrics. And most podcasters didn’t even notice. The Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting — AMP — has defined a new cross-platform standard for what counts as a ‘play.’ Spotify has already adopted it. In this episode, Neal breaks down what this actually means for indie podcasters — why your dashboard numbers are about to look fairly different, why that doesn’t mean your show is doing better, and why optimising for any play-count threshold is optimising for the wrong thing. You’ll hear: — What AMP is and why they’re trying to standardise this — What is ‘intentional consumption’ in Spotify’s words, and what that actually means — Why Apple’s definition is still extraordinary (and not in a good way) — The one metric that actually tells you if your show is working 🔗 Listen to other episodes here: https://podmastery.co/ 📊 Free 7-day podcast makeover email course — one tip per day, no filler. Sign up at podmastery.co 💡 Want to work through your specific show? podmastery.co/need-podcasting-help
People in this episode
Host: Neal Veglio
Topics covered
- podcast metrics
- play definition
- indie podcasters
- cross-platform standard
- intentional consumption
- podcast optimization
Keywords
- podcast metrics
- play count
- indie podcasting
- Spotify
- Apple
- AMP
- intentional consumption
- podcast optimization
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Alliance for Measurement in Podcasting, Spotify, Apple
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