Acast and Amazon Music enter agreement to bring ad-free podcast listening to fans

Amazon Music and Acast have entered an agreement to deliver ad-free podcasts for Prime members and Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers.

Amazon Music has purchased all the ad inventory across thousands of Acast podcasts, and as a result listeners will be able to access those podcasts ad-free on Amazon Music. Ad-free listening to Acast podcasts on Amazon Music will result in revenue for Acast podcasters.

The agreement enables Prime members and Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers to stream Acast podcasts without ads globally through the Amazon Music app, available via the listener’s device of choice — including smartphone, tablet, PC/Mac, Fire TV, and Alexa-enabled devices like Amazon Echo. Prime members and Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers will be able to use Amazon Music to listen interruption-free to thousands of Acast shows, at no additional cost.

“This is an exciting deal and we look forward to partnering with Amazon Music. Monetization in the podcasting space has diversified massively in recent years. This deal opens up an additional channel to increase revenue and improve our sell-through rates based on our large ad inventory of Acast Marketplace. We will probably see more opportunities opening up in the industry going forward,” said Ross Adams, CEO at Acast.

“I am extremely excited that our Prime members and Amazon Music Unlimited customers can now listen to the fantastic selection of Acast podcasts ad-free, and at no additional cost. I’ve long been a fan of many of these podcasts and can’t wait to dive in. I look forward to our new relationship with Acast,” added Craig Strachan, Head of Podcasts, Europe, Australia & New Zealand, Amazon Music.

The partnership opens up a new revenue channel for Acast, and at the same time, it diversifies the revenue stream for Acast creators. Prime members and Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers can stream the podcasts ad-free on Amazon Music starting today.