Understanding your audience is the key to growing a successful radio station. The CastHost Statistics suite provides deep insights into who is listening, where they are located, and which tracks are keeping them engaged.
1. Live Statistics (Real-Time)
The Live Statistics page gives you a "right now" view of your station. Navigate to Statistics -> Live to see:
- Listeners Tuned Now: A detailed list showing the IP address, location, and connection duration of every current listener.
- Top Countries: A geographic breakdown of where your live audience is located.
- User Agents: See what software your listeners are using (e.g., Chrome, VLC, Winamp).
2. Historical Listener Trends
To see how your station is performing over time, use the Listeners tab. You can filter data by 7, 14, or 30 days, or set a custom date range.
- Total Listening Hours (TLH): The total cumulative time all listeners have spent on your stream. This is a primary metric for station growth.
- Unique Listeners: The number of distinct individuals who tuned in during the period.
- Average Session Length: Helps you understand "stickiness"—are listeners staying for hours or just a few minutes?
3. Track Performance Statistics
Not all music is created equal. The Track Statistics page helps you refine your library by identifying your "hits":
- Top Tracks by Playbacks: Which songs are playing most frequently in your rotation.
- Peak Listeners per Track: See exactly which song was playing when you hit your highest listener count.
- Best/Worst Performing: Identify tracks that cause listeners to "tune out" so you can remove them from your playlists.
4. Bandwidth & Data Usage
Monitoring your data transfer is important for maintaining your plan limits:
- Total Data Transfer: The amount of bandwidth consumed by your listeners.
- Usage Patterns: Review the charts to see if you have specific "spikes" in data usage, which usually correlate with special live events or popular guest DJs.
5. Actionable Insights
- Identify Peak Hours: If your peak is at 8 PM on Tuesdays, that is when you should host your live talk shows or premium content.
- Tailor Content: If 40% of your audience is from the UK, consider adding localized time checks or news for that region.
- Optimize Bitrate: If many listeners use mobile devices with high buffering, consider offering a secondary low-bitrate mount point (e.g., 64kbps).
Need to report these stats to sponsors? You can download monthly performance summaries in the Statistics -> Downloads section of your dashboard.
