Barbara K Iverson

Serial is the most accessed podcast ever from iTunes, according to Apple. By November 18, it was downloaded and streamed 5 million times. The show claims some 1.5 million listeners per episode, of which nine have so far been produced. That would mean nearly 9 million downloads or streaming sessions (assuming people went back to listen to the whole thing) from non-iTunes sources, which seems high, but would also indicate a better distribution of means by which people obtain podcasts, which is good for all podcasters! David Carr, the lead media reporter at the New York Times, wrote that the episodes were downloaded “at a cost of nothing,” which may refer to what it costs to deliver or what listeners pay; hard to tell. But I’d like to guess at the amount. What does it cost to deliver that many episodes? (via Show Me the Numbers: Serial’s Data Transfer Costs from the Glog)