Spotify for Podcasters tells you how many people listened. Castlytics tells you how many of them bought something — and which shows, creators, and placements actually drive revenue.
Tracking links, vanity URLs, and promo codes. The attribution layer Spotify doesn't provide.
Spotify for Podcasters is excellent for understanding your audience. It is not designed for ad attribution. Here is the gap.
Great for: growing your show and understanding your audience
Spotify for Podcasters cannot answer any of these questions
These are complementary tools, not direct competitors. Here is what each one does.
Spotify for Podcasters and Castlytics answer different questions. Together they give a complete picture.
Show growth and audience understanding
Ad revenue attribution and ROAS
If you are involved in podcast advertising — as a brand or as a creator — Castlytics gives you the data Spotify cannot.
You are paying for ad reads and need to know which shows drove purchases. Spotify tells you the show's audience size. Castlytics tells you your actual ROAS per show. Without attribution data, you are optimizing ad spend on listener counts alone.
You want to prove your value to sponsors. Castlytics lets you give sponsors a tracking link and a promo code per campaign, so they can see real conversion data — not just download numbers. This makes your ad inventory easier to sell and justify.
You run a Shopify store and sponsor several podcasts each month. Castlytics connects your Shopify orders to the podcast that drove them, giving you per-show revenue attribution without any custom code on your checkout page.
You advertise on podcasts in your niche and need to know which placements drive trial signups or paid conversions. Castlytics tracks the conversion event on your confirmation page and connects it back to the creator campaign.
Keep using Spotify for Podcasters for show analytics. Add Castlytics for ad revenue attribution.
One async script tag in your site's <head>. Works on any platform. This is what lets Castlytics detect vanity path landings on your domain first-party.
<script src="https://castlytics.app/tracker.js" data-key="YOUR_KEY" async></script>For each show you sponsor, create a campaign in Castlytics. Enter the podcast name, a vanity path (e.g. /yourshow), and a promo code. A tracking link is generated automatically for show notes.
Clicks, vanity path visits, promo code uses, and purchases appear per campaign in real time. Compare ROAS across all your podcast placements to know where to increase or pull back spend.
No. Spotify for Podcasters measures show performance — plays, listeners, followers, and demographics. It does not track whether a listener visited your website, used a promo code, or made a purchase after hearing a sponsor read. For conversion attribution you need a separate tool.
Podcast analytics measure the show: how many people listened and who they are. Podcast ad attribution measures advertising outcomes: how many listeners took action after an ad read, what they purchased, and what revenue the ad drove. Both are valuable — for different purposes.
Yes, if you are a podcast host or care about show growth. Castlytics is for ad attribution, not show analytics. Spotify for Podcasters tells you about your audience. Castlytics tells you which ads drove revenue. They serve different needs and work well together.
Castlytics uses four signals per campaign. A tracking link in show notes captures listeners who click. A vanity path on your domain (e.g. yourbrand.com/showname) is detected when a listener types the URL directly — which is how most podcast listeners arrive after hearing an ad. A promo code at checkout is matched back to the campaign even if no link was clicked. A post-purchase survey ("How did you hear about us?") catches buyers who used none of the above. All four together give you near-complete attribution coverage.
Yes. Castlytics records purchase value each time a conversion fires — through the Shopify integration or a small fetch call on your confirmation page. Revenue is totaled per campaign and compared against ad spend you enter, giving you ROAS per show and per creator in your dashboard.
Free plan includes 3 campaigns, unlimited clicks, vanity URL tracking, and promo code attribution. No credit card required.
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