CoHost, the podcast analytics and hosting platform developed by Toronto-based agency Quill Inc., has unveiled a new data feature designed to change how brands and creators measure podcast growth. The “New Listener Metric,” launched in November, helps users distinguish between loyal audiences and first-time listeners.

For Fatima Zaidi, founder and CEO of both CoHost and Quill, the update represents more than just a product enhancement. It’s a correction to a long-standing problem in podcast analytics. 

“The CoHost New Listener Metric shows the number of first-time listeners discovering a podcast,” she says. “It offers clearer insights beyond total downloads. We wanted to identify genuine new audience acquisition over time.”

The feature, now available across all CoHost plans, allows users to separate new from returning listeners, spot trends after marketing pushes, and report audience expansion more confidently to sponsors and leadership teams.

Beyond Vanity Metrics

Fatima has long been vocal about the need to move past what she calls “vanity metrics.” While downloads have served as the industry standard for years, she argues they paint an incomplete picture. “If someone listens to the first ten minutes of your episode and drops off, that still counts as a download, but it doesn’t speak to the success of your content,” she says.

The New Listener Metric builds on CoHost’s existing analytics suite, which includes data on listener demographics, engagement, and consumption rates. It zeros in on who is actually discovering a show for the first time.

For enterprise clients, this visibility is essential, according to Fatima. “We can now show our clients exactly which listeners have been with the show from the beginning, and which are net-new audiences brought in through new campaigns,” she explains. “That’s been one of the most frequent requests from our customers.”

How CoHost Measures New Audiences

Behind the scenes, CoHost determines whether a listener is new or returning by analyzing log data from its hosting infrastructure. Each time an episode is streamed, the platform records a unique “ping” on its RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed. By cross-referencing factors such as IP address and geolocation, the system can determine if the listener has previously engaged with the podcast or is tuning in for the first time.

“We essentially get a ping every time someone listens to a show, and our technical team can decipher whether their logs have appeared before or if they’re completely new,” Fatima explains.

That data, when paired with metrics like consumption rate and listener drop-off points, gives podcasters a richer picture of audience behavior. “If you compare your new listener count with your episode drop-offs, you can start to see what kind of content resonates better with different audiences,” she adds.

From Agency Roots to Analytics Powerhouse

To understand CoHost’s place in the podcasting ecosystem, it helps to start with Quill, the full-service podcast agency Fatima founded in 2019. The company quickly became known for helping brands like Expedia, Walmart, PwC, and BlackRock produce and market audio content across North America.

The timing – just before the COVID-19 pandemic – proved pivotal. “People said launching a company during a global shutdown was a bad idea,” Fatima recalls. “But podcasting really blew up because of COVID. Companies couldn’t invest in in-person events, so they turned to digital storytelling. We happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

That surge in demand laid the groundwork for CoHost. “I built the agency first because I wanted to understand the market inside out before building any software,” Fatima shares. “We launched CoHost only after years of producing shows and realizing where the gaps were.”

The agency’s revenue funded the platform’s development, allowing Fatima to bootstrap both businesses without external investors. “Every hour I spent pitching investors, I could be pitching customers instead,” she says. “The agency ended up funding the product; we’re completely bootstrapped.”

What CoHost Offers

Today, CoHost positions itself as a growth and insights platform for professional podcasters, from corporate teams to independent creators. Its software aggregates listener data from Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other apps into a unified dashboard that visualizes who is listening and how they engage.

“We can tell you your listeners’ age, household income, job title, company, location, and hobbies,” Fatima explains. “You can also integrate all of this data into your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools.”

The platform’s flexibility extends beyond hosting. Brands can use CoHost’s tools as an optional prefix or plug-in, gaining access to tracking links that identify where listeners originate, whether from social media, PR coverage, or guest promotions.

“We’re a growth and insights platform,” Fatima says. “We help you measure your podcast’s performance, and we help you grow your audience.”

Why the Industry Needed a New Metric

The lack of measurement standards has long been one of podcasting’s structural challenges. “As an industry, we can’t even agree on what constitutes a download,” Fatima says. “Every time we sponsor a podcast conference, the biggest debate is always that question.”

Part of the issue stems from how ad revenue is calculated. Networks and sponsors often base rates on total downloads, incentivizing podcasters to chase quantity over engagement. “Nobody’s paying attention to how engaged those audiences are, or whether they’re even real listeners,” Fatima says. “We’ve gotten into a bad habit of focusing on vanity metrics just to make stakeholders look good.”

She believes the New Listener Metric is a step toward healthier measurement, which prioritizes community building and loyalty.

A Platform Built From Feedback

Every feature CoHost has introduced comes directly from customer feedback, Fatima reveals. “We say we’re a platform built for podcasters by podcasters,” she notes. “The New Listener Metric came from repeated client requests asking how to tell if unique listeners were actually new or long-time followers.”

The platform’s user base, which spans Business to Business (B2B), healthcare, finance, and technology sectors, has pushed CoHost to expand its data capabilities, from B2B audience analytics to demographic breakdowns that tie podcast performance directly to sales outcomes.

“We’re the only tool that provides both demographic and sales-level data (age, income, job title, company) that kind of B2B-level insight is unique to us,” Fatima says.

The Myth of Podcast Saturation

Despite growing competition, Fatima believes the medium still has room to expand. “A big myth is that podcasting is saturated,” she says. “There are about four million podcasts, and only 18% are active. Compare that to 600 million blogs or 60 million YouTube channels; we’re still in the early stages.”

She attributes much of her long-term success to consistency. “The difference between a successful and an unsuccessful podcaster is consistency,” she adds. “Joe Rogan has been podcasting for two decades. It didn’t happen overnight.”

Smarter, More Accessible Podcasting

With most clients now producing both audio and video podcasts, Fatima sees audience retention as the next frontier. “Almost 100% of our clients are now video podcasting, but with video, retention drops because you have to pay attention to a screen,” she says. “Ninety-four percent of people who start an audio podcast finish the episode, but a 30-minute video only has a 12% completion rate.”

That’s why CoHost continues to emphasize engagement and loyalty metrics. “We need to focus on numbers beyond just views and downloads, especially as formats evolve,” Fatima says.

As 2026 approaches, her goal remains clear: helping podcasters find and grow their audiences. “Creating a podcast is half the job. The other half is marketing it,” she says. “There are so many inactive podcasts because people don’t realize how hard it is to find listeners. That’s the challenge we’re solving.”

Checkout Our Latest Podcast