What is the "Confirmed Plays" metric in comparison to "Downloads"?
Downloads
Chartable uses the industry standard definition of a download: a device (a unique IP address and user agent combination) that downloads enough of an episode audio file to playback at least 60 seconds of audio.
Downloads are recorded via the Trackable analytics prefix that you install in your show's RSS feed. This includes all podcast players that use your show's RSS feed, including Apple Podcasts, Google, Spotify, embedded online players, and more.
Confirmed Plays
The Confirmed Plays metric is a metric unique to the Spotify integration. A Confirmed Play is defined as a user playing at least 60 seconds of an episode on Spotify. Confirmed Plays will equal a portion of your overall download numbers. This metric is imported into your Chartable dashboard via the integration set up in your Integrations page in your Chartable dashboard.
More information on what metrics are received from the Spotify integration can be found here.