Acast

Acast is podcast hosting with a built-in ad marketplace: shows earn from dynamic ads and sponsorships, and advertisers buy targeted audio campaigns self-serve.

Acast gives a podcaster one place to publish episodes and to get paid for them through advertising. Acast AB (publ) of Stockholm owns the platform and launched it in 2014 around dynamic ad insertion. A show hosted on Acast goes out to the listening apps, and its ad breaks can be sold from the same account. That link between hosting a show and selling its audience serves creators and advertisers in one marketplace. On the creator side, hosting covers shows, episodes and an analytics dashboard. Ads and sponsorships go into episodes by dynamic ad insertion. Advertisers find shows in the Sponsorships Marketplace and send proposals, which each podcaster approves. The self-serve ad platform books pre-recorded campaigns with targeting by topic, genre, named show, postal code or Comscore audience attributes. Podscribe attribution pixels connect listens to visits and purchases, and the campaign delivery report shows impressions and uniques per podcast. The platform fits independent podcasters who want hosting and income under one login, and networks and studios that run several shows with a team. Video podcasters get a tier of their own for publishing video episodes to Apple Podcasts. On the buying side it suits smaller advertisers and podcasters promoting their own show, who can start with a small campaign and pay by card or invoice. Hosting is sold as a subscription per account, starting with a free tier, and qualifying networks talk to Acast about a separate arrangement. Advertising is bought by CPM, with added targeting raising the rate. A show moving from another host can bring its podcast across and then reach Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Audible and iHeart Radio from one account. An advertiser with a local audience can run a campaign on chosen shows by region or postal code, then read its reach in the delivery report once the flight ends. A brand that wants proof of results pairs the Podscribe pixels with Comscore segments to see which listens led to a purchase. For the creator, the daily job is turning each new episode into sponsorship and ad income without leaving the hosting account.