Why are my Apple plays so low, or not showing up?
According to Apple, "Podcast Analytics begins gathering data as soon as users play content in the Podcasts app (iOS 11 or later), in iTunes 12.7 or later (macOS and Windows), or on HomePod. Apple only displays data from users who agreed to share their diagnostics and usage information with providers. All data is aggregated, and no personally identifiable information for any customer is shown."
Apple lays out some additional requirements:
If you're seeing plays for some episodes but not for others, you may not have enough unique devices on a particular episode to meet Apple's thresholds. For more information, please visit this Apple support article:
https://help.apple.com/itc/podcastsanalytics/#/itc1723472cb