Update November 11, 2025
Spotify has discontinued Spotify Starts, but has also introduced a new metric: Plays. This seems similar to Spotify Starts, and we can see in Spotify Creator that Spotify shows the old Starts and new Plays together in a graph. Based on this, we have also adjusted our Spotify statistics so that Spotify Plays are now also visible in the Spotify Starts graphs and in the ‘downloads’ in general.
Original message
Since October 15, 2025, Spotify Starts are no longer included in the statistics. Spotify has decided to no longer make this metric available to podcast hosts, which means we can no longer retrieve this data either.
What does this mean for your statistics?
- As of October 15, 2025, no new Spotify Starts will be added to your statistics.
- The historical data (all Spotify Starts up to and including October 14, 2025) will remain unchanged. You can still view these figures in your statistics.
- The total view of downloads (both the number and the graph) still includes the Spotify Starts we collected before October 15.
- From October 15, 2025, you may see a decrease in the total number of downloads. Don't panic, this is because Spotify Starts are no longer included in your total number of downloads.
- You can still view historical Starts, as well as all Streams and other available Spotify data, via the ‘Spotify’ tab on the statistics page.
Why did we include Spotify Starts in downloads?
Spotify used the term ‘Starts’ for what actually corresponds to a download on other platforms such as Apple Podcasts or Podimo. That's why we always added these figures to the total number of downloads.
Although Spotify no longer provides Starts, we will of course continue to measure the other platforms, such as Apple Podcasts, Podimo, and the Springcast website.
Why don't we now count Spotify Streams in the number of downloads?
A Spotify Stream is a fundamentally different metric than a download. A stream is someone who has listened for at least 60 seconds, while a Start (or download) does not necessarily indicate that.