Author Topic: Media Statistics Not Showing Up for My Premium Episode  (Read 931 times)

Panda41

  • Full Member
  • **
  • Posts: 28
Media Statistics Not Showing Up for My Premium Episode
« on: July 27, 2015, 05:01:59 pm »
Hi,

I've got my audio-podcast media files deposited with Blubrry, and I'm using the Powerpress plugin to distribute my podcasts episodes to the general public via my website (painopolis.com). However, there's one particular episode entitled "Pain Demands a Rewrite" that I'm making available only to people who wish to purchase it. This "premium" episode is deposited with Blubrry, along with all my other media files. But in order to allow people to purchase and download this particular episode, I'm using an Easy Digital Downloads plugin to handle the e-commerce transaction on my website. To see what I'm talking about, please go here:

https://painopolis.com/premium-episode-pain-demands-a-rewrite/

Here's my problem: no media statistics for this premium episode are showing up on my Blubrry Media Statistics page. Is that because I'm distributing this episode via the Easy Digital Downloads plugin rather than via the Powerpress plugin? If so, is there anything I can do to generate media statistics for this premium episode--as well as for other premium episodes that I plan to upload to my Blubrry account and publish on my website in the future? Thanks!

Shawn Thorpe

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2060
Re: Media Statistics Not Showing Up for My Premium Episode
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2015, 05:45:37 pm »
In order for the statistics system to track the downloads, the link to the media must include the Blubrry redirect at the beginning that corresponds to the stats account. The redirect for your other episodes is:
http://media.blubrry.com/painopolis/p/ followed by the URL to the episode. If you're storing the premium file in your Blubrry account, and you know the filename, then the full URL would be:
http://media.blubrry.com/painopolis/p/content.blubrry.com/painopolis/PREMIUM_FILENAME.mp3
Swap out "PREMIUM_FILENAME" for the actual filename in use. You'll want to use that link anywhere that the premium file can be downloaded.

Panda41

  • Full Member
  • **
  • Posts: 28
Re: Media Statistics Not Showing Up for My Premium Episode
« Reply #2 on: July 28, 2015, 05:53:05 pm »
Thanks for your response. I’m still a little puzzled by a couple of things involving the Blubrry statistics. Would you kindly answer the questions below? Thanks! (To reiterate, I’m using Blubrry to host all the media files for my podcast, and I’d also want to use Blubrry to generate all my media statistics.)

1. In your response yesterday, you said that the redirect URL for my episodes should be this:

http://media.blubrry.com/painopolis/p/

However, the Blubrry Dashboard>Measure>Program Statistics>Getting Started page says that my redirect URL should be this:

http://media.blubrry.com/painopolis/

I’m wondering why you inserted a /p/ on the end of my redirect. Should I insert the /p/ or not?

2. The URL you recommended for my premium episode (found at the bottom of my show notes at https://painopolis.com/premium-episode-pain-demands-a-rewrite/) differs from the URL recommended on the Blubrry Dashboard>Measure>Program Statistics>Getting Started page, under the section entitled “Use Our Media Statistics URL Generator.” If I follow your instructions, the full URL that I should use for my premium podcast is as follows:

http://media.blubrry.com/painopolis/p/content.blubrry.com/painopolis/PainDemandsaRewrite.mp3.zip

By contrast, the Getting Started page’s Media Statistics URL Generator is telling me that the full URL for my premium episode should be this:

http://media.blubrry.com/painopolis/media.blubrry.com/painopolis/content.blubrry.com/painopolis/PainDemandsaRewrite.mp3.zip

The full URL you recommended differs quite a bit from the Getting Started version. Which one should I use?

3. Please note that I’ve uploaded my premium episode to Blubrry as an mp3.zip file. It downloads just fine, but for some reason, I’m not getting any statistics for the episodes that I’ve uploaded to Blubrry as mp3.zip files. Does Blubrry generate statistics for mp3.zip files? Or does Blubrry generate statistics only for non-zipped mp3 files?

4.On another post found at https://painopolis.com/our-anus-horribilis/, I’ve got three different ways that people can either download for free or listen to the episode found on this particular post.
Option #1: They can use the Powerpress audio player at the top of my show notes to listen to the episode or download it.
Option #2: They can listen to a short snippet of my episode by using the Powerpress audio player found in the middle of my show notes.
Option #3: They can click the “Download This Free Episode” link at the bottom of my show notes to download the episode. The first two options use an mp3 file uploaded to Blubrry. The third option uses an mp3.zip file uploaded to Blubrry (I’ve included this third option because I noticed that not all browsers were able to download this episode by using Option #1). After reading your response and also reading the instructions on the Getting Started page, I’m not sure if I should use the same redirect URL in all three options. Kindly clarify.

Here are the URLs and links that I’m currently using for these three options:
For Option #1: http://media.blubrry.com/painopolis/content.blubrry.com/painopolis/OurAnusHorribilis.mp3

For Option #2: [powerpress url="http://media.blubrry.com/painopolis/media.blubrry.com/painopolis/content.blubrry.com/painopolis/Terror_copy.mp3"]

For Option #3: href="http://media.blubrry.com/painopolis/media.blubrry.com/painopolis/content.blubrry.com/painopolis/OurAnusHorribilis.mp3.zip">Download This Free Episode</a></strong></p>

5. Does the statistics page keep track only of downloads, or does it also keep track of the number of times that an episode is played (in other words, streamed) without being downloaded?

Thanks! I much appreciate your help.

Shawn Thorpe

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2060
Re: Media Statistics Not Showing Up for My Premium Episode
« Reply #3 on: July 28, 2015, 09:28:01 pm »
You can disregard the advice I gave you before about including the /p/. This URL:
http://media.blubrry.com/painopolis/media.blubrry.com/painopolis/content.blubrry.com/painopolis/PainDemandsaRewrite.mp3.zip
is working fine and you can use it, if you want. The Blubrry stats system can technically track any type of file but there are no filters in place for ZIP files, so you may not get the most accurate stats for this type of file. Also, it generally takes at least 10 downloads before stats for any file start to show up in the stats dashboard.

Also, the Blubrry stats system counts web plays and downloads the same. Technically, they are the same:
http://create.blubrry.com/resources/podcast-media-download-statistics/podcast-media-statistics-faq/