In Mexico alone, this content format is one of the most listened to (43%), only below streaming music, according to IAB Mexico.
Given its success among Internet users, it is increasingly common to find out that there are new podcasts on certain topics related to our interests.
And given the strong competition that exists between the creators of content of said format, and due to the requirement to have high metrics, some channels have decided to use methods that increase their figures.
According to an investigation by Bloomberg, many podcast owners would be incurring in a technique that, although it is not new, puts competitors at a disadvantage.
This is what some podcasts do to increase their figures
According to the Bloomberg publication, the technique that certain podcast owners use to increase their downloads is through payments to mobile advertising firms.
Through banners or advertisements on online platforms, including mobile video games, they offer rewards to gamers for clicking on their advertising content.
But in order for players to earn certain benefits, users must do an automatic download.
This action contributes to the increase in metrics, favoring the performance of the podcasts. However, this is not to say that people actually listen to podcasts.
And since downloads count and benefit your figures, what you listen to already takes a backseat in this case.
Although it is not necessarily a crime, what is clear is that other podcasts that do not apply this method are at a disadvantage.
And it is that despite the fact that there are other metrics that also count to make a podcast more profitable, the number of downloads is a key factor to obtain more advertising contracts and, therefore, more income.
As we said in previous paragraphs, this practice is not something new. According to DeepSee’s “Rewarded Traffic” study, there are many websites that pay Internet users to visit some online platforms.
The question here is not so much the way in which they reach users, but the way in which they strengthen their numbers, figures that do not reflect reality.
As you will see, the objective is to have the best metrics by resorting to different tools that, unfair or not, do favor them.