Acast adds Open podcasts to the Acast Marketplace

Sign-ups to Acast Open are booming — and now any show can generate revenue from ads

Acast, the world’s biggest podcast company, today announces that any show on its Acast Open platform can now apply to be part of the Acast Marketplace. This means any Acast Open podcast can now request that dynamically inserted ads run throughout its episodes, with the potential to generate revenue from ad impressions.

In November 2019, following the acquisition and integration of Pippa, Acast launched Acast Open. This brought the world’s most sophisticated podcast hosting engine to every podcaster, giving any podcast of any size access to the best tools in the industry. More than 5,000 podcasts globally have since signed up to Acast Open and the platform hosts users in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Now, any podcaster subscribed to Acast Open’s paid tiers can apply to join the Acast Marketplace and, if approved based on suitability, will have ads dynamically inserted across their back catalogue and future episodes. They’ll also be able to choose exactly where in each episode they want the ads to run dynamically, helping ensure a great listener experience.

Johan Billgren, Acast’s co-founder and CPTO, said: “We launched Acast Open to put the same tools we built for the world’s biggest and best podcasts and publishers into the hands of every podcaster on the planet.

“Now we’re further democratising podcasting, opening up the possibility for anyone on Acast Open to monetize across any and every podcast player there is — so they can start seeing financial payback for all the efforts they’ve made to build dedicated, engaged audiences around the world. We’ll continue to do everything we can to support their love of storytelling and the incredible audio content they work so hard to put out.”

Acast, which was founded in 2014, invented true dynamic ad insertion (TDAI) technology that has gone on to become the gold standard in podcasting. With TDAI, each time a person listens to a podcast, a set of individually adapted ads are placed into the episode in real-time — geo-targeted and local to the listener’s market. That means two listeners may hear different ads, even if they’re listening to the same episode, at the same time, in the same place.

This technology also means advertisers can easily replace campaigns running across thousands of shows with up-to-date messages, and has quickly seen Acast build a reputation as both the creator and advertiser’s platform of choice. One of the most attractive things for podcasters is the ability to instantly monetize their entire back catalogue of episodes, no matter how long a show has been running, through dynamically inserted ads.

Acast is completely platform agnostic, with all podcasts on its network available wherever and however a listener chooses — from Apple Podcasts and Spotify to Alexa and in-car systems, and hundreds of individual podcatchers. And the same is true for the ads served through Acast Marketplace, meaning podcasters can monetize their show everywhere.

Acast has always been committed to maintaining an open podcasting ecosystem, with all podcasts available to all listeners and the opportunity for all creators to see financial reward for their efforts.

Any podcaster opting into ads on Acast Open will receive monthly payouts, depending on the number of times an ad is served to a person listening to their show (each time is known as an ‘ad impression’). Acast sells ads on a CPM (cost per mille) basis, with ad impressions measured in line with strict guidelines set out by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) — and is the only podcast company certified against all four of the IAB’s measurement metrics.

Acast’s podcast teams around the world will continually monitor Acast Open looking for the next global hit, and may invite podcasts to join its exclusive Creator Network — where shows receive dedicated marketing and PR support, cross-promotional opportunities, sales support, and expert consultancy from Acast’s global podcast teams, on top of the usual hosting, distribution and monetization. Acast Creator Network shows include the likes of My Dad Wrote a Porno, Adam Buxton Podcast, Watch What Crappens, Forever35, Mellan Himmel och jord, Australian True Crime and The Lady Vanishes, and podcasts from publishers like the BBC, the Guardian, PBS NewsHour, The Economist, The Australian, VICE, The Earios Network and Seven West Media.