Apple Podcasts

What it does in ContentPulse: Pulls play counts, listener counts, and completion metrics for podcast episodes you publish, then surfaces them in the Engage dashboard so you know which episodes resonate. This is a measurement integration — it does not publish anything to Apple Podcasts. Status: Available Tier: Available on Suite and higher (engagement measurement is a Suite feature).

Before you start (prerequisites)

• Account requirement: An Apple Podcasts Connect account at https://podcastsconnect.apple.com. This is the same account you use to submit your show to Apple Podcasts. Free.
• Show ownership: You need to be an owner or admin on at least one podcast in Apple Podcasts Connect. ContentPulse can only pull metrics for shows you have access to.
• API key: Apple uses a JWT-based API. You generate a key in Podcasts Connect and paste three things into ContentPulse: a Provider ID, a Key ID, and the private key (a .p8 file).
• Cost: Free. Apple doesn't charge for Podcasts Connect API access.

Step-by-step setup

1. On Apple's side — generate an API key

1. Go to https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/account#/access and sign in.
2. Click Users and Access → API (you may need an organization admin to grant API access if you don't see the API tab). [Screenshot to be added](screenshot:Podcasts Connect Users and Access screen with API tab)
3. Click Generate API Key (or Request Access if your account doesn't have it yet — Apple usually approves within a business day).
4. Apple shows three pieces of information after generation:
   • Issuer ID (also called Provider ID) — a long alphanumeric like 1234567890. Copy this.
   • Key ID — a 10-character code like ABC1234567. Copy this.
   • Private key (.p8 file) — a downloadable file. Download it now. Apple will only let you download the .p8 file once; if you lose it, you have to revoke the key and generate a new one. [Screenshot to be added](screenshot:API key generated screen with Download Private Key button)
5. Open the downloaded .p8 file in any text editor (TextEdit, Notepad, VS Code — anything). It looks like:

   -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY-----
   MIGTAgEAMBMG...several lines of base64...
   -----END PRIVATE KEY-----
   

   Copy the entire contents, including the -----BEGIN PRIVATE KEY----- and -----END PRIVATE KEY----- lines.

2. In ContentPulse — paste the credentials

1. Go to https://contentpulse.helloaurora.ai/settings/connections.
2. Scroll to the Engagement Measurement section and click Apple Podcasts → Configure.
3. Click Connect Apple Podcasts.
4. Paste the three values:
   • Provider ID (issuer ID) — the long number from step 4
   • Key ID — the 10-character code
   • Private key (.p8 file contents) — the full text including BEGIN/END lines
   • Label (optional) — a friendly name like "My Podcasts Connect account" [Screenshot to be added](screenshot:Apple Podcasts connect form with three fields filled)
5. Click Connect. ContentPulse stores all three encrypted at rest and tests the credentials by signing a JWT and calling Apple's API.

3. Track an episode

Once connected, you tell ContentPulse which episodes to track. Apple's API doesn't list "all your episodes" — you give it specific episode URLs.

1. On the same Apple Podcasts settings page, find the Tracked episodes section.
2. Paste the Apple Podcasts URL of an episode you published, e.g. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-show/id123456789?i=1000234567890.
3. Optional: set a friendly title.
4. Click Track. ContentPulse starts pulling play counts on its next daily run (engagement cron runs once per day in UTC).

4. Verify it's working

• On the Apple Podcasts settings page, the Account section shows "Connected as provider <your Provider ID>".
• Within 24 hours, tracked episodes appear in the Engage dashboard with play and listener metrics.

What you can do with it once connected

• See per-episode plays, unique listeners, and completion rates in the Engage dashboard.
• Compare engagement across episodes to identify which topics drive the most listening.
• Use Engage data to inform what to repurpose next (high-performing episodes → priority for short-form clips).

Common pitfalls

• Pitfall: "Could not authenticate with Apple Podcasts Connect API." Fix: Three likely causes — (1) you copied the .p8 file contents but missed the BEGIN/END lines (paste the entire file), (2) the Issuer ID and Key ID are swapped (Issuer ID is longer; Key ID is exactly 10 characters), or (3) your API key was revoked or expired in Podcasts Connect — generate a new one.

• Pitfall: Connected successfully but no metrics appear after a day. Fix: Apple's analytics have a 24-48 hour delay even for the show owner. If it's been longer than 48 hours, check that the episode URL is exactly the one Apple shows on the episode page (?i=... parameter included). Episodes from before you connected won't backfill — only data from connection-day forward.

• Pitfall: "Access denied: your role doesn't permit API access." Fix: Your Apple Podcasts Connect account needs the "Account Holder" or "Admin" role. If a teammate added you as a content-only user, ask them to upgrade your access.

• Pitfall: I have multiple shows; do I need to track each episode individually? Fix: Yes — tracking is per-episode-URL by design, so ContentPulse only pulls data for episodes you actually care about (saves API quota). Bulk import is on the roadmap.

Restrictions

• ContentPulse only reads metrics. We never publish episodes to Apple Podcasts (you do that through your podcast host's RSS feed, not the API).
• Metrics granularity matches Apple's API: aggregate daily plays and listeners, not per-listener tracking. We don't get listener demographics.
• Episodes you haven't told ContentPulse to track are ignored — there's no "show all episodes" auto-discovery.

Need help?

Email [support@helloaurora.ai](mailto:support@helloaurora.ai) — we'll walk you through it.