How do I get my subscriber count?
Short answer: you can’t see an exact subscriber count and that’s true for every podcast platform, not just Fireside.
Why subscriber counts aren’t available
Podcast apps like Apple Podcasts and Spotify don’t share subscriber data with hosting platforms.
Even if they did, the concept of a “subscriber” is fuzzy:
- Some people follow your show but never listen
- Others listen regularly without ever subscribing
- Apps automatically download or stream episodes differently
- Listeners come and go constantly
Because of this, any “subscriber count” would be a rough guess at best and often misleading.
What should you look at instead?
The metric that actually matters is Unique Downloads per episode.
This tells you:
- How many people are actively listening
- How your audience is growing over time
- What advertisers and sponsors care about
It’s the closest thing to a true measure of your audience.