Moving data out of the feed saves less than you think
Quote
if you leave it in a separate file, you are going to save bandwidth, yeah. But over time, as people start realizing this data is there and start downloading it, then stuff will happen with it. You're just not gonna say. I don't think you're gonna see much savings.
Episode 199: Feed Bloat (episode page, opens in a new tab) 01:02:48 (play audio from this timestamp, opens in a new tab)
Speaker-labeled
Summary
Debating whether new metadata (like the follow tag) belongs in the RSS feed or an external JSON file, Dave notes that a separate file saves bandwidth at first. Once people realize the data is there and start downloading it, the savings largely disappear. He also points out that hosts hold the 'feed bloat' rule inconsistently, e.g. adding Podlove chapters inline once Spotify supported them.
Not in the audio. The Podlove-chapters inconsistency comes from Dave's turn at 00:57:46.