In response to requests from probably thousands of other online publishers, Google announced today that it will begin reporting the number of subscribers any RSS feed has through Google Reader and Google Personalized Homepage.  Other feed reading Google products may be included in the future but these are the two big ones.
FeedBurner requires reporting from feed reader vendors in order for their subscribers to be counted. Feedburner’s Rick Klau said this morning that the Google announcement is good news but reminded readers that Feedburner offers additional statistics including the number of subscribers who actually view your feed and click throughs on individual items.
Publishers can expect to see their Feedburner subscriber numbers include Google Reader numbers Saturday morning but the real difference will be most noticeable on Tuesday or Wednesday when Feedburner numbers hit their weekly peak.
We’ve covered Google Reader extensively here in the past and believe its newest version to be one of if not the best online reader on the market.  The question of adoption has been a nagging one, however.  Hitwise reported last month that Google Reader gets less traffic than industry leader Bloglines and, strangely, Rojo.  On an individual publisher level at least, the question of Google Reader’s number of users should be put to rest tomorrow morning.
For futher coverage of this announcement, see the discussion on TechMeme.
Interesting, but it should also have separate stats for ‘viewed items.’
I have Reader set up but I never use it – I’m a Sage for Firefox fan. Are my subscriptions on Google Reader being counted?
If they can count page loads, etc., they should be able to provide a ‘reads your RSS feed regularly’ stat as well as a ’subscribed to your RSS feed’ one.
This is very good news. Helps track traffic.
I hope to get some good numbers myself.
If you get a chance take a look at my site
http://www.techcrunchme.com
IMO that’s very good news.
As a recent Feedburner registrant and user of Google Reader, I give a big thumbs up. It has been frustrating, to say the least, to look at the number of subscribers on Feedburner and tell myself that the true number of subscribers is “somewhere around there, notwithstanding Google Reader”. While still not giving an absolute complete picture, today’s announcement surely removes a rather large ambiguity from everyone’s stats.
Case in point, I do read a number of sites using Google Reader, and there are a few of them that I do not ever think I have ever visited a la carte.
Make Your Nut
Tech Crunch Me – what’s the point? First you ripoff all the content from Tech Crunch (even the name) and then you self-promote yourself in the comments.
You have original and creative written all over yourself.
Surprised they haven’t had this done already.
My content is different. The subject matter is the same but my expressed opinions are definitely different. See for yourself. Read the entries http://www.techcrunchme.com
“TechCrunch Me!” is definitely original. Anyone who doubts this is out of their mind.
Michael, looks like you’re going to break the 200K mark tomorrow in subscribers. Looking to sell TechCrunch yet?
On their Reader … for some reason I find it ridiculously slow. I can read and open 200 posts in bloglines in the time it takes me to open 100 in Google Reader. I love the features, but until it’s faster I’ll stick with bloglines.
Anita
The news of accurate statistics is great. Woo Hoo… Thanks for letting us know.
“livedoor Reader” is the best online reader.
This would be very very interesting to see.. as showing statistics is actually gonna increase bloggers interest in google reader and therefore traffic as well..
This post by “Chad Hurley” has to stop. It has truly gotten out of hand. I have a few domains I haven’t done anything with yet and the poster is welcome to post this most likely inaccurate drivel there and just post a link. Just let me know.
According to FeedBurner, Google FeedFetcher is now the #1 subscriber to my blog. http://me.scott...070217.aspx#180
Anyone else notice a big jump in their subscriber numbers yesterday?
I think most of us did and overnight, Google Feedfetcher is the number 1 subscriber to my blog (34%).