HOW TO IMPLEMENT PODTRAC MEASUREMENT MANUALLY

1 - Select the Podtrac Prefix to match your show’s file type

For all mp3 episodes, use this prefix: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/

The Podtrac Prefix works for virtually any file format. If your episode is not in mp3 format, simply change the extension on the Podtrac Prefix to match your episode (.m4a or .mv4 for example).

2 - Implement the Podtrac Prefix in your RSS Feed

Use the Podtrac Prefix in your RSS <enclosure> tags every time you publish a new episode. This will result in all traffic from various podcast players being measured by Podtrac.

If your episode's <enclosure> tag in your RSS feed would normally be:
<enclosure url="https://www.mysite.com/ep051215.mp3"/>
...then use this tag instead:
<enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/www.mysite.com/ep051215.mp3"/>

Note: Be sure you add the Podtrac Prefix to the podcast episode files (enclosure urls) in your RSS feed, NOT to your podcast’s RSS feed URL itself. Also, please note the removal of the "https://" directly in front of your site url - the correct enclosure tag just has “https://” once at the beginning of the tag.

Check your RSS feed to ensure it’s valid, and that the Podtrac Prefix appears on your episode URLs. Here’s a tool you can use: https://castfeedvalidator.com

3 - Implement the Prefix in any Downloadable Files from Your Website

If your episode's website link would normally be:
<a href="https://www.mysite.com/ep051215.mp3">...</a>
...then use this hyperlink instead:
<a href="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/www.mysite.com/ep051215.mp3">...</a>

4 - Implement the Prefix in any Embedded Players on Your Website

If you use audio players on your site where the code normally looks like this:
<audio>
<source src="https://www.mysite.com/ep051215.mp3">
</audio>
...then update the src attribute to include the Podtrac prefix.

Note: Be sure to add that preload="none" to the audio tag (if it’s not already there) so that preload requests aren't counted as downloads. (This is required by the IAB v2.x standard.)

5 - Implement the Prefix in any Custom Apps

Use the techniques as described above to modify the episode URLs used in any custom apps that you produce for your show.