Podcast Player block: preload behavior triggering unintended traffic

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  spreakersandro · Member · Aug 7, 2026 at 9:19 am

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  Hi there,

  I’m Alessandro, a software engineer at Spreaker.com, a major podcast hosting platform.

  First, thank you for building the “Podcast Player” block — it’s made podcast listening really accessible for WordPress users, and it’s a great feature.

  I wanted to flag something we came across during testing that you may not be aware of: the block currently preloads audio before any explicit user interaction. This ends up generating traffic against podcast hosting platforms that looks like plays or downloads, even though no one has actually listened. It’s a pattern the IAB Podcast Measurement Technical Guidelines specifically call out, since most major hosting platforms rely on these standards to report accurate listening data back to podcast creators. You can find the details here.

  The practical impact is that podcast owners can end up with inflated or inaccurate download counts, and in some cases even lose revenue if hosting platforms flag and filter out the artificial traffic.

  The good news is the fix is straightforward: setting preload="none" on the <audio> tag should resolve it.

  Happy to answer any questions or share more detail if useful — thanks for taking a look.

  Best,
  Alessandro