Podcast Listeners Say AI Is Poised To Redefine The Medium, Acast Study Finds

Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, unveiled the results of a new study that explores the sentiment of podcast listeners towards potential use cases of AI on the medium. The study, which specifically examined weekly podcast listeners for its ability to create a personalized storytelling experience, improved listening quality, relevant advertising, and more.

“At Acast, we know that podcast audiences tend to be more aware of and interested in technology compared to other mediums, so its no surprise that our research found listeners to be so interested in AI. However, what it unexpected about this study is just how open listeners are to AI infiltrating nearly every aspect of their current listening experience and for the technology to mold new ways for them to engage with the medium,” said Research and Insights Director at Acast, Tommy Walters.

According to the study, podcast listeners are most interested in AI being used to enhance the quality of the listening experience, with 82% saying they support the use of AI to improve the sound by removing background noise, normalizing audio levels, and identifying and removing filler words or long pauses. Listeners are also interested in how the technology can be used to break down language barriers as 80% said they support the use of AI for translating captions to various languages and allowing listeners across the world to enjoy them regardless of spoken language.

Podcast listeners are also supportive of how AI will potentially improve the overall accessibility and discoverability of the medium. In fact, 79% support the use of speech recognition to automatically transcribe podcast episodes to make them searchable and accessible. Another 78% of respondents said they support the use of AI to generate captions in real time in order to make episodes more accessible to deaf audiences. Additionally, 74% said they support the use of AI to suggest specific podcast episodes highly relevant to a topic being discussed in the podcast being listened to and 72% support AI helping them to better discover relevant podcasts.

Respondents were also interested in how AI could potentially be used to create a more holistic and informative listening experience. In fact, 72% said they support AI serving them educational and informative materials related to the podcast while they are listening and 61% support its use for automatically generating video content to watch along with the podcast. The study also found 64% of podcast listeners were supportive of AI being used to provide truth scores or suggestions of false statements being made to inform listeners. Additionally, 69% were interested in the use of AI to highlight relevant Tweets or social media traffic that happened because of a discussion within a podcast episode.

These findings align with a separate study Acast conducted in January of this year on the use of ChatGPT in podcasting, which found that 85% of podcast listeners believe that it’s ethical for podcasters to use AI tools to create podcast content. Interestingly, though, in this January study just 57% of podcast listeners said that they expect ChatGPT and similar tools will improve the quality of podcast content. The change in sentiment infers that podcast listeners may be quickly realizing the full potential of AI tools across various aspects of the medium.

In fact, according to the most recent research, podcast listeners are also supportive of the use of AI for podcast advertising. In fact, 65% of listeners said they support the use of AI for serving them relevant advertising content. When it comes to voice simulations, 56% of listeners said they support podcasters leveraging AI to simulate them reading an ad instead of doing the host-read themselves.

Acast Introduces Acast+ Access

Acast,  the world’s most valuable podcast marketplace, is announcing is announcing the launch of Acast+ Access. This technology gives any company with an existing paid subscription offering the ability to add exclusive podcast benefits. 

New research shows that there is a significant, lucrative opportunity for publishers and other companies to integrate podcasts into their current subscriptions. According to a recent Acast survey, more than a quarter of consumers (27%) would be more likely to sign up for a subscription if they also received podcast benefits as part of that subscription. More than a fifth of consumers (21%) would be willing to pay even more to get the added podcast benefits.

With the launch of Acast+ Access, companies with existing membership offerings – including news publishers, media organizations, streaming services, and more – can now integrate podcast benefits into the paywall they already use for their subscribers. 

Ross Adams, CEO at Acast, said: “Acast+ Access is a game-changer for companies that want to increase their overall subscription revenue and make their offering even more attractive to consumers. As more and more audiences seek premium podcast content, our technology allows providers to easily meet that need and deepen their relationship with their customers. And for companies not already incorporating podcasts into their subscription strategy, this is one of the easiest ways to rally new subscribers immediately.”

Yasmin Bassi, Senior Product Manager at Acast, said: “With Acast+ Access is a game-changer for companies the most powerful, centralized solution for all their podcast needs – allowing them to manage podcast advertising, distribution, and and subscriptions seamlessly in one single, easy-to-use platform. It isn’t only a great thing for publishers, but for the audiences, who can sign up to a company’s subscription effortlessly and immediately access subscriber-only podcasts on their app of choice.”

Acast+ Access allows companies to upgrade their current content (e.g. paywalled episodes, extended episodes, full series), personalized intros and outs, archived content, early access to content, and more. Subscriber can then access those benefits on their podcast app in listening platform of choice, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, the web, and any other platform that supports private RSS feeds.

Steve Lanham – Head of Podcasts at History Hit said: “History Hit has always aimed to make history more accessible in the digital age, and podcasts are a huge part of the mission. Through Acast+ Access, we can offer listeners more of the audio they love, giving them additional access to fascinating stories and interviews from the world’s leading historians and experts.”

Acast+ Access is based on an earlier iteration of the company’s technology of a similar name (“Acast Access”). It has been rebuilt to now allow clients to offer even more podcast benefits developed through the Acast+ technology, such as ad-free listening and early access to content, and access to bolstered analytics. Acast earns a fee for each private podcast feed activated by the client’s paying subscribers.

Acast+ Access is available now. Companies looking to learn more or use the technology can sign up by visiting https://go.acast.com/access.

 

Podchaser Develops AI-Powered Data Capabilities With Launch of Collections+

Podchaser – the podcast industry’s intelligence engine – announces the launch of a groundbreaking AI-powered capability to allow advertisers to expand their reach in podcasting and refine their targeting further than ever before. Podchaser’s Collections+ has been developed and tested with Acast, and is now being made available to any hosting provider, ad platform or marketplace in the industry looking to enhance its own targeting offering for advertisers.

With Collections+, data on podcasts and their audiences is pulled from the widest range of sources across podcasting – including the hosting platform’s own data, Podchaser’s first-party data, Apple Podcasts and Spotify category and chart data, IAB categories, surveys and transcriptions. 

The data is then synthesized using AI models, sorting podcasts into verticals based on all available data points. This creates the highest quality collections for advertisers to target against in the industry, replacing the traditional method, where podcasts are categorized manually into groups which advertisers then choose to buy against for their campaigns.

Bradley Davis, CEO at Podchaser said: “We’re turning what once was the art of podcast buying into a true science using everyone’s best friend, AI. By combining Podchaser’s position as the industry’s intelligence engine with Acast’s decade of deep experience in packaging podcasts to help advertisers reach valuable audiences, we’ve been able to create the highest-quality collections in the industry, which go beyond simple manual human classification.

“As audience-first buying becomes increasingly important, and more and more dollars flow into brand campaigns, we’re optimizing ad planning for everyone. Advertisers are empowered to plan smarter campaigns and we’re enabling more podcasters to earn more revenue. Most importantly, this data technique is being made available to the whole industry to use, to improve podcasting for all.”

Data shows that 44% of US podcast advertising investment lands with the top 500 shows. But these shows only account for 12% of monthly reach, which means advertisers are missing the opportunity to target nearly 88% of the addressable podcast audience. Collections+ benefits all parties in podcasting: for advertisers it brings more scale, increased longevity of creatives, better campaign diversity and increased effectiveness. For podcasters, it means greater discoverability amongst advertisers, increased chance of revenue and more shows monetized.

For example, a podcast may present itself as focusing on travel, but through Collections+ Podchaser can deduce that episodes veer heavily into discussions around, say, mental health as well as self-development, allowing that show to be included in more relevant sales verticals, making the podcast more discoverable to advertisers and attracting even more relevant advertising to engaged audiences than before.

At Acast, Collections+ has already seen uptake from a large number of brands including several Fortune 500 companies, and has enabled Acast to monetize 5% more shows in the first seven weeks of testing. For advertisers, buying through Acast, the capability is available in all markets at no additional cost – whether brought through Acast’s sales teams, programmatically or via Acast’s self-serve advertising program.

Collections+ is available now for any podcast hosting or ad platform – contact cole@podchaser.com for more information.

Ubisoft Partners With Acast

Leading independent video game publisher Ubisoft has partnered with Acast to manage distribution, sales, and promotion of its podcast operations.

The current slate of podcasts, tied to some of the company’s biggest franchises – Echoes of History, Tenacity, E-Sport, and Beyond Games – has listens split between Ubisoft’s core markets of Germany, the United States, France, Spain, and China. For the first time, Ubisoft will have the opportunity to run sponsorship and advertising across the Acast network, create bespoke brand partnerships relevant to each region and lean on the potential for in-game integrations and cross-promotional activity which look to generate both active and passive revenue.

Podcasts open up the Ubisoft brand and its properties to both new listeners and advertisers. The titles explore real-life, human experiences and generate discussion on topics seen in the narrative of video games, such as historical moments and figures, warfare, and survival. By creating podcasts that bring video game universes even closer to the real world, Ubisoft has also been able to attract both gamers and communities beyond the core player audience.

“Ubisoft is excited to expand both our reach for this growing and thriving content as well as create a unique untapped revenue stream,” said Francois Tallec, Vice President of brand and transmedia partnerships at Ubisoft.

Cédric Begoc, Content Director at Acast France, said: “Ubisoft is a perfect partner for Acast. The ability for us to work with a global gaming empire as they double down on their podcast representation is a fantastic challenge. We know we can provide unparalleled support and opportunities in monetization, but having a receptive, creative team that is willing to push boundaries with us means our opportunities become endless. Ad creative, audience targeting, thematic exploration of video games in audio form – it’s all so exciting.”

Acast is distributing Ubisoft podcasts across all listening platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and everywhere else listeners get their podcasts. Now available for sponsorship and advertising, ads may be purchased either programmatically or direct. Additionally, sponsors can work with the Acast Creative team to create bespoke brand integrations, such as branded miniseries, episodes, or Sponsored Stories.

The Guardian, The FT, The Economist And More Team Up With Acast To Launch New Consortium

Acast launches a UK consortium dedicated to advancing the podcasting industry, promoting trusted audio journalism and encouraging healthy debate.

Publishers in Podcasting (PiP) is the very first membership consortium of its kind. Bringing together some of the most influential publishers in the UK, the purpose is to use members’ collective experience and trust to progress the podcast industry for common good. By sharing information, experience and expertise, the consortium will aim to continue further the power of the podcasting industry for publishers, advertisers and listeners alike.

Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast platform, has a long history of working closely with household-name publishers. Since 2014, the company has hosted and monetised global publishing powerhouses, including podcast networks from The Economist, The Guardian, and the BBC. With such a pedigree of premium publishers, Acast provides advertisers access to the highest-quality content, the most financially-secure audiences, with the most significant scale, through the most relevant stories.

Alongside Acast, members of Publishers in Podcasting will be; The Economist, The FT, The Guardian, News Broadcasting and Tortoise Media. This core membership will be the foundation for Publishers in Podcasting, with the scope to expand as the consortium, develops.

The consortium will aim to share ideas, celebrate success, overcome challenges and develop standards across the publishing podcast industry in the UK. One of the most extensive outputs from publisher podcast networks is news podcasts. There is a growing demand for trusted news sources, and this has led to an increase in the popularity of news podcasts. Acast has seen an 18% growth in listens across UK publishers in the last two years, and 1 in five news podcast listeners say they use podcasts as their primary news source. One of the first topics the consortium will approach is how to continue that growth.

Alexandra Fuller, Senior Partnerships Manager for Publishers, Acast: “For the first time, the UK’s biggest publisher podcast networks are coming together alongside Acast to discuss the biggest topics in podcasting. This is a seminal moment and proves that the power of podcasting can bring leaders together to outline the next steps for growth in our industry. We’ll aim to meet each challenge collectively and work together to further establish podcasting as one of the most trusted news sources for listeners and advertisers.”

For more information on getting involved, visit Publishers In Podcasting or Advertise.Acast.com

Acast Elevates Sales Team To See Growing Podcast Sales In Australia And New Zealand

Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, is pleased to announce updates to its sales team in Australia and New Zealand.

To address the increased and evolving demand of the AUNZ podcast sales market, former Group Sales Leads Kate Digby, Teresa Ly, and Brice Crosswell have been promoted to Group Business Directors. Their teams are responsible for bringing global advertisers to the Acast Marketplace and delivering high-impact, integrated branded content partnerships, utilizing the latest ad-tech and programmatic advertising.

Additionally, Ciaran Tobin has been promoted to Key Account Director, Independent Agencies from his previous role as Senior Account Manager. Ciaran and his future team will service the increased demand Acast is seeing from independent agencies nationally.

“We are so pleased to promote Kate, Teresa, Bryce, and Ciaran to their new roles. They are hands down some of the most knowledgable, creative and hardest workers in podcasting,” said Henrik Isaksson, Managing Director for Acast in Australia and New Zealand. “Acast’s ad techie best in class – and the momentum of our local team is incredible to see. We believe in promoting talent from within and reimagining organizational roles to meet market demand. The promotions in the team will enable us to further expand our offering to podcasters, publishers and advertisers and support wider development as podcast advertisers increase demand for innovative and seamless solutions in our region.”

As Acast continues to grow its share in Australia and New Zealand, the region remains a top priority for the company and its stakeholders. The newly announced positions within the sales team reflect Acast’s ongoing commitment to that growth and to meeting the evolving demands of the market for advertisers and podcasters alike.

 

Acast Launches Audience Segments Targeting Capability On Self-Serve Advertising Platform

Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, launched Audience Segments on its self-serve advertising platform. The new capability enables advertisers booking campaigns through the self-serve platform to target listeners based on Nielsen Audience Segments across Acast’s more than 92,000 podcasts.

Available now to advertisers in the US, Canada, and Australia, Audience Segments marks Acast’s commitment to democratizing the podcast advertising industry by brining professional-level features to brands of all sizes and levels of the podcast buying experience.

“We built our self-serve advertising platform as a response to the market demand from advertisers and have continued to innovate in ways that keep their needs central to the product,” said Niklas Lagerberg, Product Manager at Acast. 

“We’ve seen not just more advertisers, but more experienced advertisers booking podcast campaigns through the self-serve platform. These seasoned marketers expect the same experience that they receive when working with the Acast sales team: efficient buying and accurate audience targeting at scale. Audience Segments brings this first-class experience to the self-serve platform by enabling more accurate audience targeting at the moment of ad injection.”

Acast introduced its self-serve advertising platform in November of last year and since launch, the platform has continued to expand to fit the needs of its growing client base. Throughout that growth, Acast has worked with advertisers of varying sizes and levels of expertise in podcast advertising to meet needs across the marketing funnel. From small and medium sized businesses eager to increase brand awareness to household name brands leveraging podcasts to drive purchases, Acast’s self-serve advertising platform has proved to be a valuable marketing tool.

One of those brands to leverage Acast’s self-serve advertising platform was Tortoise Media, which booked a campaign to promote their own slate of podcasts across content categories including the Curious Thinkers collection as well as News and Politics.

“As a media brand, we know podcast advertising would be a seamless inclusion to our media mix. What we didn’t know was just how easy Acast’s self-serve platform would be to book the campaign, identify our target audiences, and measure the results,” said Claudia Collins, Head of Marketing and Membership at Tortoise Media. “Even though we were booking our own campaign, the Acast team was there to answer any questions we had so we never felt alone in the process.”

Previously, advertisers booking campaigns through Acast’s self-serve platform could only target podcasts by listener demographics, location, and show content category. Leveraging Nielsen Audience Segments and extensive insights, Acast’s Audience Segments targeting feature provides an extra layer of intelligence to its self-serve platform. This effectively enables brands to target listeners within specific segment categories including Business Leaders, High Income Earners, Tech Enthusiasts, Travelers, Parents, Pet Owners, and more.

Similarly to working with a dedicated sales team, Acast’s self-serve advertising platform allows advertisers to effectively measure their campaign performance at every step of the conversion funnel. Acast works with third party vendors including Podsights, ArtsAI, Claritas, Veritonic, and others to enable pixel-based solutions for impression tracking, verification, brand uplift, attribution, and more.

Acast To Manage Ad Sales And Distribution For Higher Ground Podcasts

Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, will manage ad sales and content for Higher Ground podcasts. 

The relationship between Acast and Higher Ground is a win for listeners across the United States and around the globe. Acast will make several Higher Ground podcasts available to audiences for free on all podcast platforms and listening apps globally. Select higher ground podcasts will now support sponsorships, advertising, and branded integrations through Acast’s industry-leading technology, which allows brands to reach listeners of those podcasts across all platforms.

Higher Ground produces some of the most popular and iconic podcasts in the industry – including the recently launched Audible Original series Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast; the hit series Renegades: Born in the USA, a series of conversations between President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen and released as a New York Times bestselling book based on the podcast; Tell Them, I Am, an audio collection of universal stories from Muslim voices; The Big Hit Show, a series of audio documentaries hosted by Alex Pappademas that focuses on the pieces of popular culture that have defined and changed our culture; as well as The Sum Of Us, from Heather McGhee, author of the New York Times bestselling book of the same name.

The deal follows Higher Ground’s collaboration with Audible for a first-look podcast deal and the launch of Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast, an Audible Original podcast. Each podcast episode will be exclusively on Audible for two weeks, and then will be distributed widely by Acast and available wherever podcasts are found.

“Higher Ground continues to deliver among the most engaging and high-caliber audio content in the industry, and we look forward to teaming up with them to make vital storytelling available to communities all over the globe,” said Ross Adams, CEO at Acast. “This relationship marks an exciting new chapter not only for Acast, but for the audio industry at large, as we work hand-in-hand to make the world a more connected place.”

Dan Fierman, Head of Audio at Higher Ground, stated, “We’ve been deeply impressed by the creativity and innovation of the Acast team. We are excited to work with their team to bring our growing state of audio content to existing fans and new audiences.”

Now, brands and agencies can purchase ads, sponsorships, and integrated branded content partnerships on a number of Higher Ground podcasts that make use of Acast’s pioneering dynamic ad insertion technology, which allows advertisers to reach audiences using conventional targeting, first-party data targeting, listener demographics, location, and more. Ads may be purchased from Acast either programmatically or direct. Sponsors can work with the Acast Creative team to create bespoke brand integrations, such as branded mini-series, episodes, or Sponsored Stories for those podcasts.

Acast Signs Significant Partnership Deal With TV 2 in Denmark

Acast, the largest independent podcast company, announces that one of Denmark’s media companies, TV 2, has chosen Acast as its partner to develop and strengthen its podcast offering on the Danish market. With more than 92,000 podcasts in its portfolio, Acast enables creators and publishers to host, distribute and monetize their content across all listening platforms out there.

Today, Acast works with some of the world’s largest publishing houses including BBC, The Guardian, The Economist, Vogue, as well as Nordic publishers such as Schibsted, Aller Media, Finansavisen, Dagens Næringsliv, Altinget, Discovery and many more.

By choosing Acast as partner, TV 2 will get access to the podcast company’s entire offering – everything from hosting, distribution, and opportunities for growth, to unique listener data and insights. TV 2 will also be able to take advantage of Acast’s dynamic advertising technology, which revolutionized the industry when it was released in 2014, enabling advertisers to communicate their message to the target group in real-time.

Endre Kjerstad, Senior Project Manager Strategy & Innovation at TV 2, said: “We have chosen Acast as a new platform to both strengthen the distribution of our podcasts, whenever Danes download their favorite shows, and to secure a safe advertising development for our podcasts. We are in good hands with Acast, with their extensive international experience – including experience from other media houses – and at the same time they have a local approach. We are really looking forward to this collaboration.”

Radio listening is decreasing on the Danish market. Meanwhile, the number of podcast listeners is increasing, which also is reflected in Acast’s data from 2022. Last year, the number of listens on Acast hosted content increased by 35% in Denmark, to more 27 million listens per year, with the company signing off on more than 20 new shows on the market.

The partnership with TV 2 will also expand Acast’s offering in the market, adding several new podcasts to its platform, including shows such as ’S kyggesiden’, ‘Dato’ and ‘Korrespondenterne’ to mention a few. In 2023, TV 2 will be looking to develop and launch more exciting content formats together with Acast.

Katrine Storgaard, Content Development Manager at Acast Denmark said: “We are enormously proud to be able to announce this podcast collaboration between Acast and TV 2 Denmark. Distribution, growth strategy and monetization of podcasts are our biggest strengths at Acast. Our valuable insights and many years of experience focusing exclusively on the medium of podcasts allows our partners to tap their full potential and reach more listeners. We have been helping large international media companies with this for many years, and look forward to working on the podcast projects that await us with TV 2 Denmark.”

All TV 2 podcasts will be available in Acast’s global marketplace for podcast advertising – Acast Marketplace – and available to listen to on all podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music and many more.

North American Podcast Listeners Drive Action For Advertisers

Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, released Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, released new research of frequent podcast listeners throughout the US and Canada.

According to the study, these highly engaged audiences are extremely valuable for advertisers, with 95% of the US podcast listeners saying that they have taken action as a result of podcast advertising. Of those US respondents who said they frequently listen to podcast ads, 97% have taken action following exposure to a podcast ad. Among Canadian listeners, 88% of responders said they have taken action as a result of podcast advertising, and 91% of frequent listeners reported the same.

As podcast advertising continues to grow globally, the U.S market alone is slated to eclipse $4 billion in value by next year Concurrently, recent Acast research discovered that 65% of US marketers expect to increase their marketing spend on podcasts and, when considering marketers who have previously purchased podcast ads, 83% expect to increase their spend on the medium year-on-year. As advertisers continue to increase their investments in podcasts, understanding the audiences that drive action is necessary to seeing the greatest return on they ad spend.

“With tightened media budget this year, buyers need to be putting their dollars into the attention economy if they want to see any kind of return on their investments, Podcasts have the most highly engaged audiences of any medium out there, making them the most dominant force in the attention economy,” said Acast Director of Sales and Brand Partnerships in the U.S. Christiana Brenton. “This new Acast research is key for advertisers to understand the purchase behaviors of these highly valuable podcast audiences across North America.”

Driving this effectiveness of these highly engaged audiences is the intimate relationship formed between podcasters and their listeners. According to the research, 82% of US podcast listeners and 66% of Canadian podcast listeners agree that listening to ads is a way to support their favorite podcasters. The study also found that listeners who said their favorite podcasters feel like their friends, which was 77% of US respondents and 55% of Canadian respondents, are far more likely to listen to ads all of the time.

“The podcast advertising industry is continuing to experience growth as media buyers better recognize the effectiveness of the medium for their brand message. Understanding the unique relationship between podcast audiences and the content they consume through research and insights like this is vital to the success of advertisers in the space,” said Acast Managing Director, Canada, Heather Gordon.

These relationships also extend beyond podcasts and into other forms of media. In this study, 82% of US podcast listeners and 67% of Canadian listeners said they follow a podcaster in social media, creating more opportunities for brands to engage with these audiences.

This news comes on the heels of Acast’s announcement to launch https://acast.com/blog/jessi-cruickshank-announces-debut-podcast-phone-a-friend-with-acast Canadian media personality Jessi Cruickshank’s debut podcast Phone a Friend with Jessi Cruikshank. At launch, Cruikshank’s podcast will feature celebrity guests including Schitt’s Creek’s Dan Levy and major brand partners like Peloton.