Implement IAB Podcast Measurement 2.1 compliance basics for a podcast hosting platform

Steps

1. Implement the IAB-defined five-step server log analysis process: collect raw HTTP access logs, filter out non-human traffic (bots, crawlers) using a current IAB-published list of known bot user agents, apply a 24-hour deduplication window per episode per IP address and user agent combination to count unique downloads, apply a minimum byte threshold to exclude incomplete downloads, and apply a 24-hour rolling or fixed window to determine your reporting period
2. Count a download only when the requesting client has received a meaningful threshold of audio data — the IAB guidelines define thresholds based on episode length; a request that results in only a few seconds of data transfer should not count as a download
3. Remove known crawler and bot user agents from your download counts using the IAB's published filtration list, which includes common podcast indexers and search engine bots — update this list regularly as new bots emerge
4. Deduplicate downloads within a 24-hour window: the same IP address and user agent combination requesting the same episode within 24 hours counts as a single download — this is the core deduplication rule in IAB 2.1
5. Declare your compliance posture clearly: to claim IAB certification, submit to the IAB Tech Lab certification program — uncertified claims of compliance are not recognized by advertisers and agencies that require certified measurement
6. Implement separate tracking for ad impressions if you run dynamic ad insertion — an ad impression is counted when a qualifying threshold of the ad audio has been delivered, independently of whether the episode download counted