Metrics glossary

The API reports the same numbers as the Listener apps, computed by the same code. This page defines them.

Reach#

Reach is the number of views, plays, downloads or impressions content received in a window, depending on what each platform reports.

Total reach = youtube + audio + social.

Reach summaries also report a newsletter figure: Beehiiv and Substack newsletter opens. Those platforms already count in social and total; the separate figure lets you show newsletters on their own.

Account-level and cluster-level reach#

There are two kinds of reach in Listener, and they answer different questions. Say which one you are quoting.

• Account-level reach reads each platform account’s own daily series. It is what the Analytics page shows, and what /v1/analytics/* returns.
• Cluster-level reach sums the reach of the clips, posts and episodes attached to an episode cluster. It is what the Clusters and Campaign pages show, and what cluster and campaign endpoints return.

Clusters#

An episode cluster groups an episode with every clip and post made from it across platforms. A merged cluster combines several episode clusters; a merged cluster and its source clusters are never both counted in a total. A manual cluster has no source episode.

Unique-account mode#

In a network, one Instagram or TikTok account can belong to several shows. By default (social_count_mode=all) those accounts count once per show. With social_count_mode=unique, shared accounts count once in network totals, and suppressed_platforms_by_show says which show’s copy was skipped.

Unique mode applies to overview totals, timelines and platform distributions. It never applies to per-show rankings or comparisons, where each show keeps its own accounts.

EMV (earned media value)#

EMV estimates what the attention an ad or integration earned would cost to buy:

EMV = long-form views × long-form CPM ÷ 1000
    + short-form views × short-form CPM ÷ 1000
    + likes × like rate
    + comments × comment rate

When several rate settings apply, the most specific wins:

1. The campaign’s EMV settings
2. Show overrides
3. The cluster’s EMV rates
4. The network’s default EMV (PUT /v1/network/default-emv)
5. The defaults above

CPM#

• Expected CPM = budget ÷ expected impressions × 1000.
• Delivered CPM is only computed once a campaign has delivered at least 25% of its expected impressions. Before that it is null, because early delivered CPM swings wildly and misleads.

Freshness#

Results built from platform data carry freshness: for each platform, when its data last advanced (last_updated), how many hours ago (age_hours) and whether that is more than 36 hours (stale). stale_platforms lists the stale ones. See Data freshness.

Computed at#

Analytics responses include computed_at and cache_age_seconds. Reads are cached for up to two minutes, so two calls a few seconds apart return identical numbers.