RSS Matching

To produce metrics per episode and podcast (show), episodes must be identified from the HTTP URL or other field in the logs (for example, an ID).

Podcast title, episode title, and episode publication date are usually not available in the access log file and must be provided to Triton Digital separately from the logs. This can be done by providing a list of RSS feeds containing all the appropriate information for podcasts and episodes. This is required to associate a line in the access log file to a podcast (show) and an episode.

RSS Feed Delivery & Frequency

The Publisher must provide the list of all their podcasts (shows) and all their associated RSS feeds. The feeds shall always be available online and updated when there are new episodes.

Required and Optional Fields in the RSS

Required fields	Description	RSS Feed Field	Example
enclosure url	Episode complete URL.	<enclosure url>	https://podcasts.tritondigital.com/ABC_510289/pcrastinate/2018/02/20180209_pcrastinate0823.mp3?p=123456&episode=584548472
episode title	Title of each episode.	<title> or <itunes:title>	This is the episode title or This is the episode title again.
episode publish date	Episode published date.	<pubDate>	Wed, 25 Apr 2018 18:00:00 -0400
episode ID	Episode unique identifier.	<guid>	7b048d02-aee1-411b-8f29-83aacc78950c
episode duration	Episode duration, expressed in second.	<itunes:duration>	1800
episode length	Episode length, expressed in bytes.	<enclosure length>	28948343
podcast title	Title of the podcast (show).	<channel> <title>	A Sample Podcast
Optional fields	Description	RSS Feed Field	Example
podcast ID	A unique podcast (show) identifier.		98347523 (any string or number)

The most reliable information for RSS feeds is usually found in the iTunes elements. So we collect the episode title and duration from the iTunes tag first and fall back to the <title> and <enclosure> elements only if they are not available from <itunes:title> and <itunes:duration>.

To associate a line in the access log file to a podcast episode, we must either:

Find a matching part in the HTTP query URL and in the RSS enclose URL.
Or, match an ID in the access log line to an ID in the RSS.

RSS Example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" version="2.0">
<channel>
   <title>A Sample Podcast</title>
   ...
   <item>
      <title>This is the episode title</title>
      <description><![CDATA[We do not use the description.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 25 Apr 2018 18:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
      <copyright>2018 Triton Digital</copyright>
      <guid>7b048d02-aee1-411b-8f29-83aacc78950c</guid>
      <itunes:title>This is the episode title again</itunes:title>
      <itunes:author>Triton Digital</itunes:author>
      <itunes:summary><![CDATA[not used either.]]></itunes:summary>
      <itunes:image href="https://www.td.com/images/icons/FB-logo-500x500.jpg"/>
      <itunes:duration>2000</itunes:duration> <!--episode duration (s) -->
      <itunes:explicit>yes</itunes:explicit>
      <content:encoded><![CDATA[not used either.]]></content:encoded>
      <enclosure url="https://podcasts.tritondigital.com/ 510289/podcast0823.mp3?podcast=12345&episode=5848472" length="2000" type="audio/mpeg"/>
    </item>
<item>
...
</item>
   </channel>
</rss>