Acast has appointed Brian Danzis as Managing Director, Americas. Danzis will spearhead expansion in the US, Canada, and Mexico, focusing on business development, major partnerships, content acquisition, and the delivery of new technology in local markets.

His hire supports Acast’s ambition to scale its market-leading products and services for creators, advertisers, and listeners across the globe.

Acast invented dynamic ad insertion technology – which delivers timely, contextualized podcast ads to listeners across any device or platform – and its pioneering an automated podcast ad buying solution. Its services include hosting, distribution, consultancy, and monetization for its podcast creators and its publishers, such as Complex, BBC, HuffPost, and VICE.

“The Americas are Acast’s fastest-growing markets, and we’re excited to welcome Brian to the team to lead the next phase of our expansion,” said Oskar Serrander, Chief Operating Officer at Acast. “His credentials speak for themselves, but what impressed us further is his belief in Acast’s vision and his dedication to accelerating our growth in a space with massive potential.”

Danzis was most recently Global Head of Video and Live Events at Spotify, where he led the direct sales team in monetizing the company’s streaming video ad formats and experiential offerings across 79 markets.

Prior, he was Chief Revenue Officer at programmatic video platform Virool, and spent six years at Videology as Senior Vice President of Sales and Sales Strategy for the Americas.

“We’ve reached a watershed moment for audio content. Just as we saw with video, we have an incredible opportunity with audio to provide a platform for creators and publishers to monetize content at scale,” said Danzis. “The podcast industry is still in its relative infancy, but that presents huge growth potential both in content and in its value for advertisers. Acast has the people, the vision, and the technology to drive that growth.”

Danzis will be based in Acast’s New York office.