Chartable Is Shutting Down -- Will Your Podcast Data Break and Episodes Stop Playing?
Firstory Team
The team behind Firstory, Asia's leading podcast platform.
Chartable has announced that it will officially shut down on December 12, 2024, significantly impacting podcast shows. As data tracking features are discontinued, creators must remove their tracking prefixes as soon as possible -- otherwise, their shows may "break," becoming unplayable or unsubscribable for listeners. Because Firstory follows the same Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) guidelines as Chartable, it ensures podcast data accuracy and serves as an excellent alternative.
What Is Chartable?
Chartable is a data analytics platform designed specifically for podcasts, primarily used to track and analyze show traffic data and chart rankings.
Key Features
- Data Tracking: Users can register an account and enter their show's RSS feed URL. Chartable uses this information to track listening data and generate reports.
- Chart Analytics: Chartable provides various charts, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify trending show rankings, allowing podcast creators to understand their show's market position.
- Smartlinks: A tool for tracking the effectiveness of a single promotional link, helping podcast creators evaluate the performance of different marketing channels.
- SmartPromos: SmartPromos measures how many devices downloaded your show after a specific ad promotion, enabling podcast creators to understand which promotional campaigns are most effective.
In short, Chartable has been an indispensable tool, particularly for creators looking to improve their podcast performance and for advertisers who value data accuracy. It not only provides critical data but also helps users develop more effective market strategies.
Why Is Chartable Shutting Down?
According to Chartable's latest announcement, Spotify, as Chartable's parent company, decided to terminate the service primarily due to resource reallocation, redirecting resources toward other products with greater long-term growth potential. This strategic adjustment also reflects the increasingly competitive podcast landscape.
For Spotify, while Chartable was widely popular in the podcast community, integrating it into their own platform reduces maintenance costs while consolidating Spotify's ecosystem in the podcast market.
Alongside the shutdown announcement, Chartable also announced that all features would be available for free from now until the service ends. Additionally, users who prepaid for subscriptions will receive refunds.
Impact on Podcast Creators
Chartable provided powerful data tracking capabilities for podcast creators and advertisers -- from listen counts and listener behavior to marketing campaign effectiveness evaluation -- making it an essential tool in the podcast ecosystem. With Spotify shutting down Chartable, many creators who relied on its tracking prefixes and analytics tools will face a series of challenges.
Beyond the loss of data tracking functionality, there are more serious technical issues that could affect normal podcast playback. Since Chartable's tracking prefixes are embedded in the podcast's RSS feed to track downloads and playback data, once the service is terminated, these tracking prefixes will become non-functional and may turn into broken links. If podcast creators do not remove these invalid tracking prefixes in time, podcast platforms or apps may fail to properly parse the show when encountering these broken links, resulting in episodes that cannot be played or shows that cannot be subscribed to.
This is especially concerning for shows that rely on Chartable tracking prefixes -- these broken links can disrupt the normal publishing process, ultimately causing the show to "break" and preventing listeners from accessing the content they want. Therefore, all creators are strongly advised to thoroughly check and remove all related tracking prefixes before Chartable's service ends, to avoid impacting their show's normal operation across platforms and their listeners' playback experience.
How Should Podcast Creators Respond?
With Chartable's impending shutdown, podcast creators and related users need to prepare in advance to avoid data tracking gaps in their show's future operations. Here are the officially recommended steps:
- Remove Tracking Prefixes: Users should promptly remove Chartable tracking prefixes from their hosting providers (such as Firstory, SoundOn, etc.) to prevent future data collection issues.
- Update RSS Links: Podcast creators should update their RSS links across all listening platforms (such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.) to ensure their shows continue to function properly.
- Export Data Reports: Before the service ends, users are advised to export and save all available reports for future reference of historical data and trends.
The Future of Data Tracking
Despite Chartable's closure, the podcast industry's demand for third-party tracking tools remains strong. While Spotify aims to fill this gap by integrating data tracking features into its own platform, other independent podcast tracking tools will also seek opportunities in this market. Podcast producers and advertisers will need more diverse data tools to analyze listener behavior and evaluate advertising effectiveness.
Finding a Trustworthy Hosting Platform
Firstory was the first platform in Taiwan to fully comply with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standards for podcast hosting, having aligned with Chartable's standards as early as 2021.
In accordance with these standards, Firstory filters out inflated play counts, platform test files, web crawlers, downloads under 30 seconds, and other cases that should not count as "1 valid download." Through this methodology, Firstory provides creators with data that meets international standards -- known as "unique downloads."
Learn more: What are podcast unique downloads? Why do they matter?
Here is an actual comparison between Firstory and Chartable data:
Looking at the same show's data for its last 12 episodes, the discrepancy between Firstory's and Chartable's dashboards is typically less than 5%, and in some cases, Firstory's methodology is even more rigorous than Chartable's.
The fairest data calculations! Start your amazing podcast on Firstory for free
Some creators have asked why Firstory doesn't keep the old "vanity metrics" dashboard, or why it doesn't default to providing inflated download counts that are 5-6x higher like SoundOn does.
The reason is that in the long run, "vanity metrics" do not help the industry grow -- they actually stifle its future. When creators habitually provide inflated data to advertisers, those advertisers will eventually see through the numbers by looking at click-through rates and conversions.
If you are an advertiser, you can avoid unnecessary ad spending by ensuring data validity. If you are a creator, you can build advertiser trust by providing accurate data. Regardless of your position in the podcast industry, Firstory guarantees the fairest and most accurate data to help you properly assess growth trends.
Looking to run podcast ads? Firstory is your best choice! Request an advertising kit
Spotify's Alternative Services
As Chartable's parent company, Spotify has not entirely abandoned the podcast data tracking market. Instead, it has integrated some features into its own platform and offers free link tracking tools on Spotify for Podcasters, allowing users to continue tracking their podcast's performance within the Spotify ecosystem.
Additionally, Spotify has stated that Chartable's SmartLinks and SmartPromos features will be fully integrated into Spotify's hosting platform, Megaphone, by 2025. This means these features will remain available through Spotify until then.
Exploring Other Third-Party Tools
Third-party tools like Podtrac and Blubrry, which offer similar services, may become alternative choices for Chartable users. These platforms also provide ad tracking, data analytics, and other features, and they are not dependent on a single podcast publishing platform, giving users more options and flexibility.
For more information, see: Jesse Lin's Blog, Podnews
Conclusion
The closure of Chartable marks a significant turning point in the podcast data tracking space. As Spotify redirects resources to its own platform, podcast producers and advertisers need to adjust their strategies promptly and transition to other tracking and analytics tools. While Chartable's shutdown may inconvenience some users, the future of podcast data tracking technology will continue to evolve, bringing more innovation and choices.
The fairest data calculations! Start your amazing podcast on Firstory for free