Mato collects listening data from every platform your podcast reaches and brings it into one place. The analytics dashboard shows downloads, the busiest day in the selected period, geography, app mix, and device mix so you can see how your show is performing without checking each platform separately.
This article explains what each section of the dashboard measures and how the numbers are calculated.
Where to find analytics
Analytics live in two places:
- Podcast-level dashboard. Open any podcast, then click the Analytics tab. This shows aggregate numbers across all episodes.
- Episode-level dashboard. Open an episode, then click the Analytics tab. This shows numbers scoped to that single episode.
The podcast detail page also has an audience snapshot widget near the top. It pulls a 30-day summary (downloads, peak day, top episode, and momentum) so you get a quick read without opening the full dashboard.
Analytics only appear after your show is connected to Mato Distribution. If you see a message about distribution not being connected, open your podcast's publishing settings and sync the show first.
The overview section
The top of the podcast-level dashboard has four metric tiles arranged in a row. Each tile is clickable and switches the chart below it.
Downloads is the total download count for the selected time period. This is the primary metric most podcasters track.
Peak day is the highest single-day counted download total in the selected period. It is not a count of unique people across the full window. Mato's current show analytics endpoint is built from a daily, episode-level rollup, so the dashboard uses daily buckets for this value even if the main chart is grouped by week or month.
Countries counts how many distinct countries generated at least one download in the selected period.
Momentum compares the current period's total downloads against the previous period of the same length. A positive percentage means downloads grew; negative means they declined. If there is not enough history for a comparison, the tile shows a dash.
Click any tile to swap the main chart area between four views: the downloads trend line, the counted-download trend behind peak day, a countries bar chart, and a momentum bar chart.
Downloads over time
The default chart is an area chart that plots daily download volume as a filled curve. Hovering over any point shows the exact numbers for that date.
When grouped by week or month (using the group-by selector), each data point represents the aggregate for that bucket.
Geographic breakdown
The geography section shows a horizontal bar chart of the top countries (or regions, depending on the group-by setting). Each bar represents total downloads from that location during the selected period.
Below the chart, the insights panel includes a concentration index (HHI). A low index means your audience is spread across many markets. A high index means downloads are concentrated in one or two countries. The panel also lists the top countries by share percentage.
App breakdown
The listening apps chart is a donut chart showing which podcast apps your audience uses. Common entries include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, and Google Podcasts. The chart displays the top six apps, with a legend alongside showing exact download counts per app.
This breakdown helps you understand where your listeners prefer to consume your content. If one app dominates, your artwork, show notes, and metadata matter most on that platform.
Device breakdown
The device mix chart is another donut chart that groups downloads by device type. Categories typically include Mobile, Desktop, Smart Speaker, Tablet, and others. Like the app chart, it shows the top five device types with download counts.
Choosing a time period
Two sets of tabs sit at the top of the dashboard:
Period controls the time window. At the podcast level: 7D, 30D, 90D, or All. At the episode level: 24H, 14D, 30D, or All.
Group by controls the bucket size: Day, Week, or Month. Grouping by day gives you the most granular view. Grouping by week or month smooths out daily spikes and is better for spotting longer-term patterns.
Changing either selector refreshes the dashboard with new data. The current selections are reflected in the page URL, so you can bookmark or share a specific view.
Episode rankings
Below the main chart area, an episode table ranks your episodes by download count within the selected period. Each row shows the episode title, publication date, and download total. You can sort by downloads (default, descending) or alphabetically by title.
On the podcast-level dashboard, a compact "top episodes" widget also appears in the sidebar next to the main chart. It highlights the top-performing episodes without scrolling down.
Podcast-level vs episode-level analytics
The podcast-level dashboard aggregates data across every episode. It answers questions like "How is my show doing overall?" and "Which episode is carrying the most weight?"
The episode-level dashboard scopes everything to one episode. It has its own downloads trend, geographic breakdown, app mix, and device mix, all filtered to that single episode. It also adds episode-specific metrics:
- Downloads vs show average. Shows whether this episode is performing above or below the show's average download count.
- Listening decay. Tracks how quickly downloads drop off after release. The first-week and first-month totals show how front-loaded or long-tailed the episode's audience is.
- Download pacing. Downloads per peak day and peak-day share show whether activity is concentrated on one busy day or spread through the selected period.
The insights panel
At the bottom of the podcast-level dashboard, the insights panel generates a plain-language summary from the raw data. It breaks down into several sections:
- Report summary. Short narrative sentences about the period you selected.
- Download pacing. Total downloads, peak day, downloads per peak day, and peak-day share.
- Listening decay. First-week downloads, first-month downloads, and the decay percentage (available when enough data exists).
- Geography. Concentration index and top-country share.
- Audience mix. Average and median downloads per episode, top episode, and a comparison of individual episodes against the average.
- App mix shifts. If prior-period data is available, this section shows which apps gained or lost share.
- Device and geography / Distribution / Publishing rhythm. Quick reads on the strongest listening markets, how downloads are spread across the catalog, and the show's release cadence.
What counts as a "download"
Mato aggregates download data from your distribution platform. A download is counted each time a listener's app or browser requests the episode audio file. Most podcast hosting platforms follow the IAB Podcast Measurement guidelines, which filter out bots, duplicate requests from the same IP within a rolling window, and partial byte-range requests below a threshold.
Mato currently stores counted downloads in daily, episode-level rollups. Those rollups are based on IP and user agent and are filtered for bots, probes, and very small partial requests before aggregation. The current podcast-level dashboard does not expose a true unique-listener count across a selected window; calculating that requires deduplicating raw events across the whole show and period.
How often analytics update
Mato runs a daily aggregation job at 6:00 AM UTC. The analytics dashboard pulls from this aggregated data, so numbers reflect activity up to the previous day. These snapshots also feed downstream features like weekly digest emails and milestone notifications.
A data timing notice at the bottom of the insights panel confirms the update schedule. The dashboard also shows a "last updated" timestamp in the top-right corner so you can see when the data was last refreshed during your session.
You can click Refresh at any time to pull the latest available data from the server. This does not trigger a new aggregation; it fetches the most recent aggregated snapshot.