Import Download History From Your Previous Host

When you move a podcast to show.fm, its download history stays behind at your old host. You can bring that history with you by importing the CSV file your old host lets you export.

The figures appear in their own section of your Analytics page, called Before show.fm. They are labelled with where they came from, and they never mix with the downloads show.fm measures.

Check who can import

• Plans: importing is included on every paid plan (Creator and up). It is not part of the Free plan.
• Roles: Hosts and Producers can import, replace, delete and view imported history. Co-Hosts don't see it.

This is different from your live analytics, which only a Host can see. Producers often do the import themselves, so they can see the result too. See Team and Roles for what each role can do.

Export your history from your old host

You need a CSV file with downloads by episode, by date, or both. Every host names its export differently, so look in your old host's analytics or statistics area for a CSV download.

RSS.com

Download RSS.com's "downloads by episode" CSV export from its analytics area. show.fm recognises this file straight away, so you can skip the step where you tell show.fm which columns hold what.

show.fm recognises it by its columns: Published, Episode and Total downloads, followed by one column for each month.

Any other host

Export downloads as a CSV file. show.fm can read two layouts:

• One row per episode, with a column for each day or each month, or a single column with each episode's lifetime total.
• One row per date, with a downloads column. An episode column is optional: without one, every figure counts towards your whole show.

If your host offers both, pick a file with a publish date for each episode. show.fm uses publish dates to match rows to your episodes.

Keep the file under 5 MB

show.fm reads files up to 5 MB, and each import replaces the one before, so everything needs to be in one file. If your export is bigger, export monthly figures instead of daily ones, or export only the period before you moved to show.fm.

Import your file

1. Open your podcast and click Analytics in the sidebar.
2. Scroll down to Before show.fm and click Import download history.
3. Under CSV file from your previous host, choose your file. show.fm reads it straight away. Nothing is saved yet.
4. If show.fm doesn't recognise the layout, it asks you to Tell us how to read the file. Choose which columns hold what (see below), then click Continue to review.
5. Check the review table. Change the episode for any row that is wrong (see below).
6. Under Previous host, type your old host's name, for example "Libsyn". It appears with your imported figures, as "Reported by" followed by the name. For RSS.com files, it is filled in for you.
7. If your file has lifetime totals, tick the box confirming that the totals only count downloads up to the day this podcast moved to show.fm.
8. Click Save import.

When the import is saved, you'll see "Imported" followed by the number of downloads and your old host's name.

Tell show.fm how to read the file

You only see this step for files show.fm doesn't recognise. A preview of the first rows of your file sits underneath, so you can check the columns as you go.

1. Under How is the file laid out?, choose one:
   • One row per episode, with a column for each day or month, or one lifetime total
   • One row per date, with a downloads column (and sometimes an episode column)
2. For a file with one row per episode, choose:
   • Episode title column.
   • Publish date column, or None if the file has no publish dates.
   • The other columns hold: Monthly downloads (one column per month), Daily downloads (one column per day) or A lifetime total per episode.
   • Total downloads column, if you chose lifetime totals.
3. For a file with one row per date, choose:
   • Date column and Downloads column.
   • Episode title column, or None: count everything at show level if the file has no episode column.
   • Each row is: One day or One month.
4. Under Dates like 03/04/2024 mean, choose Day first (3 April 2024) or Month first (March 4, 2024). If your file never writes dates that way, leave The file has no dates like that.

show.fm understands dates written like 2024-03-18, 18 Mar 2024 or Mar 18, 2024, and months written like 2024-03, 03/2024 or March 2024. Download counts must be whole numbers. Commas between thousands are fine, and an empty cell, a dash or "n/a" means "no figure".

If you picked the wrong options, click Change how the file is read on the review step to come back here.

Review the matches

The review table lists every row of your file with:

• In the file: the row's title, its publish date if the file has one, and the period it covers.
• To import: the downloads that will be saved.
• After cutoff: downloads dated after you moved to show.fm. These are not imported (see the next section).
• Episode on show.fm: the episode the row will be attached to.

show.fm suggests an episode for each row. The note under each choice tells you why:

• Matched by publish date: one episode on show.fm was published on the same day as the row.
• Matched by publish date and title: several episodes share the publish date and the title decided, or the dates are one day apart (often a time zone difference) and the titles are similar.
• Matched by title: no publish date matched, but an episode has a very similar title.
• No matching episode found: the row will count at show level unless you choose an episode.

Each show.fm episode is suggested for one row at most. Publish dates on show.fm are counted in UTC. Files with one row per date have no publish dates, so their rows are matched by title only.

To change a match, pick a different episode from the row's list, or choose Count at show level. Your choice then shows as Chosen by you or Moved to show level by you. If you point two rows at the same episode, their downloads are added together.

Above the table, a summary tells you how many rows matched, how many count at show level and how many downloads will be imported. If the file has totals rows (such as "Total (all episodes)", once at the end or once for every date), they are left out because the other rows add up to them, and the summary names them so you can check nothing else was left out.

Understand why history stops on the day you moved

Imported history stops on the day you created this podcast on show.fm, counted in UTC. From that day on, show.fm measures your downloads itself, so later figures from your old host are left out.

The review step and the Before show.fm section show this date as History stops on.

How the cutoff applies depends on the kind of figures in your file:

Your file has	What is imported
Daily figures	Every day up to and including the cutoff day
Monthly figures	Every month up to and including the month of the cutoff day
Lifetime totals	Totals for episodes published on or before the cutoff day

A monthly figure can't be split into days, so the whole month containing the cutoff is imported.

Lifetime totals have no dates of their own, so each one is checked against its episode's publish date. That is why a file of totals needs a publish date column. Before you save, you confirm that the totals only count downloads up to the cutoff day. If your old host's totals include later downloads, export a dated file instead.

A worked example

Say you created your podcast on show.fm on 18 March 2026.

• Daily file: figures for 18 March 2026 and earlier are imported. Figures from 19 March 2026 onwards are not.
• Monthly file: figures for March 2026 and earlier are imported. April 2026 onwards is not. March's figure may include a few days after you moved, because the month can't be split.
• File of lifetime totals: an episode published on 10 March 2026 is imported. An episode published on 20 March 2026 is not, because show.fm has measured it from the start.

The review step shows how many downloads fall after the cutoff, so you can see exactly what is left out before you save.

Know why imported history is shown separately

show.fm measures downloads to industry rules: bots are removed and each listener counts once per episode per day. Your old host may have counted differently, and show.fm can't check the figures in a file you upload. So imported figures are shown as reported by your old host, not as show.fm figures.

Imported downloads are never added to:

• Your show.fm download totals, charts or episode rankings
• First 7 days figures or launch curves on episode analytics
• Download milestone celebrations or analytics automation triggers
• Client report links or the analytics CSV export
• The developer API or the MCP server

They only appear in the Before show.fm sections described below.

See your imported history

On your podcast's Analytics page, the Before show.fm section shows:

• Downloads before show.fm: the total imported.
• Counted at show level: the part that isn't attached to an episode.
• History stops on: the cutoff day.
• Downloads per month: a chart of your imported history. Daily figures are added up into months. A file of lifetime totals has no chart, because it has no dates to plot.
• A table of episodes with their imported downloads and the period they cover. Click an episode's title to open its analytics page.

The section carries an Imported label and a line naming your old host, who imported the file and when, for example "Reported by RSS.com · imported by" followed by a name and a date. Under the table, a note repeats the file name and how many rows were matched to episodes or counted at show level.

Each episode's analytics page also shows a Before show.fm card when that episode has imported history. It has a Manage imported history link back to the Analytics page.

Check how much history your plan shows

Imported history follows the same history window as the rest of your analytics:

Plan	Imported history shown
Creator	The last 365 days
Studio (and Founders), Production House and Enterprise	All of it

You can import your whole history on any paid plan. Anything older than your plan's window is kept, but hidden. When some history is hidden, the section says so and offers Unlock full history.

A period is shown only if it starts inside the window. A month that began before the window is hidden, even if it ended inside it. A lifetime total is dated to the episode's publish date, so it is shown only if the episode was published inside the window.

If your account moves to the Free plan, your imported history is kept but hidden. It appears again when you upgrade.

Replace or delete an import

Each podcast keeps one import at a time.

To replace it, click Replace import at the top of the Before show.fm section and go through the same steps with your new file. The last button reads Replace import instead of Save import. Saving swaps the old import for the new one in one go. If the save fails, your previous import stays exactly as it was.

To delete it:

1. Click Delete at the top of the Before show.fm section.
2. Click Delete imported history to confirm.

This removes every imported figure. Nothing show.fm measured is affected, and you can import the file again later.

Understand rows counted at show level

Some rows in your file won't match an episode on show.fm, for example an episode you deleted before moving. Those downloads still count towards your history. They are shown under their title from the file, with a Show level label, instead of under an episode.

If you delete an episode on show.fm after importing, its imported downloads move to show level too, still under their title from the file. They are not lost.

Troubleshooting

These are the messages you might see, and what to do.

"This file is larger than 5 MB."

Export monthly figures instead of daily ones, or export only the period before you moved to show.fm. Don't split the file into several imports: each import replaces the one before, so only the last file would be kept.

"This file is empty." or "The first row should name the columns, and the file needs at least two columns."

show.fm needs the first row of the file to hold column names. Open the file in a spreadsheet, check the first row and save it again as CSV.

"The date … could be day/month or month/day."

A date like 03/04/2024 could mean 3 April or March 4. On the step that asks how to read the file, choose an option under Dates like 03/04/2024 mean.

"This file has daily dates. Choose daily figures, so the cutoff can be applied to the exact day."

You chose monthly figures, but the file has daily dates. Choose Daily downloads (one column per day) or One day instead.

"No column is headed with a month" or "No column is headed with a date"

For a file with one row per episode, the columns after the title and publish date need dates or months as their headings. Check you chose the right option under The other columns hold.

"A file of lifetime totals needs a publish date column"

Lifetime totals are checked against each episode's publish date, so choose a Publish date column. If your file has none, export a dated file from your old host instead.

"Choose the column that holds each episode’s total downloads."

Choose a Total downloads column.

"The date and downloads columns must be different."

Choose a different column for Date column or Downloads column.

Some cells "could not be read and will be left out"

The review step lists cells it couldn't read, with the line and column, for example a row with no title, a value that isn't a date, or a count that isn't a whole number. Everything else in the file can still be imported. To include those figures, fix the cells in your file and choose it again.

"Nothing in this file is dated on or before" the cutoff day

Everything in the file is from after you moved to show.fm, which show.fm already measures. Check you exported the right period from your old host.

"Confirm that these totals only count downloads up to" the cutoff day

Tick the confirmation box under the review table before you save.

"This file has changed since you reviewed it. Review it again."

The file or your choices changed between the review and the save. Choose the file again and repeat the review.

"This file has more figures than one import can hold"

One import holds up to 60,000 figures (for example 100 episodes with daily figures for 600 days). Export monthly figures instead of daily ones. Don't split the file into several imports: each import replaces the one before.

My numbers don't match what my old host showed

Check the After cutoff column: downloads after you moved to show.fm are not imported. A plan with a 365-day window also hides older periods. If your old host counted downloads differently from show.fm, the two will never match exactly. See Understanding Your Analytics.

What's Next?

• Understanding Your Analytics: what show.fm measures from the day you move
• Episode analytics: each episode's own page, including its Before show.fm card
• Import your podcast: bring your episodes across, if you haven't yet
• Plan limits: history windows and features by plan