Why download numbers differ

Explanation · Last updated: 5 November 2026

If you moved your podcast to Pandan, or you also look at the numbers a podcast directory such as Apple Podcasts shows you, you will see different numbers for the same episodes. This page explains why.

The exact rules are in How Pandan counts downloads.

A download is not a play

A download means an app or browser fetched an episode. It doesn’t mean anyone listened. Many apps fetch new episodes for their subscribers on their own, and some of those are never played. Pandan can’t see playback: the app fetches the file and plays it without telling us.

Podcast directories such as Apple Podcasts count something else: what happens in their own apps, such as plays and listening time. Those numbers answer a different question and will not match a download count, from Pandan or any other host.

Why Pandan may count fewer

• Streaming in many iPhone apps. When an app streams through the iPhone’s built-in player, its first request asks for just two bytes, to check the file. The rest goes straight to storage, where we can’t see it. A two-byte request alone doesn’t show that anyone listened, so it doesn’t count. Downloads in the same apps do count.
• Hosts count differently. Some hosts count every request, count 24-hour windows instead of calendar days, or filter fewer bots. Pandan follows the IAB guidelines, which take out repeated requests and bots.
• Shared addresses. Several people with the same app behind one IP address, such as a household or an office, count as one listener.
• Services that fetch once. Some services fetch an episode once and play it to their listeners from their own servers. We see one fetch, however many listen.
• Old addresses. An app that still has an episode’s address from before your podcast moved to Pandan fetches it from there, so we don’t see it.
• Players on other websites. A player embedded on another website starts with a two-byte request too. Only on your podcast website on Pandan do we know it means someone pressed play.

Why Pandan may count more

• Cancelled downloads. We see the request, not whether the file arrived, so a download that someone starts and cancels still counts.
• Midnight in UTC. A download that runs across midnight UTC can count once on each day. In Central Europe, that’s 1 or 2 am.

Why we count this way

Your plan depends on your downloads, so the number has to be one you can trust and check. Counting downloads instead of requests means a bot or a script that fetches the same file over and over can’t push you over your plan. Following the IAB guidelines keeps the number comparable with other hosts that do the same.

We count by calendar day in UTC so every account is counted the same way, wherever it is. And we change the value that hides IP addresses every day, so a listener can’t be followed from one day to the next, not even by us. The price is that Pandan can’t tell you how many different people listened over a week or a month.