Acast Celebrates a Decade of Growth and Innovation in Podcasting

Acast, the world’s largest independent podcast company, today celebrates a decade of leading the podcast industry. Over the past 10 years, Acast has continued to expand its global footprint and today is home to nearly 125,000 podcasts, enabling advertisers to reach listeners in practically every country worldwide. Today, this has led to more than 37 billion ads served globally. Additionally, since launch, Acast has paid more than $300 million directly to creators around the globe.

In 2014, Acast opened its doors in Stockholm, Sweden, its name inspired by the idea Anyone Can Make A Cast. The business quickly expanded internationally to the UK, then around Europe with offices opening in Norway, Ireland, France, and Germany. In 2016, Acast shifted its sights to the other side of the Atlantic and opened its first North American office in New York City. Sydney, Australia soon followed. In 2021, Acast undertook an initial public offering to be traded on the Swedish stock exchange.

As one of its first major marks on the podcast industry Acast invented dynamic ad insertion, which enables up-to-date and relevant advertising to be inserted into a podcast episode at the moment a listener hits play. For the first time ever, this made podcast advertising possible beyond advertising being hard-wired into the episode itself (or “baked in”), and enabled podcasters to monetize their entire back catalogs. This technology has now been widely adopted throughout the industry and played a significant role in shaping and accelerating today’s podcast advertising market.

“It’s been a meteoric rise for Acast. 10 years is a lifetime in podcasting and it’s pretty incredible to reflect on how much this team has accomplished in that time,” said Acast CEO Ross Adams. “Over the past decade we’ve not just had a front row seat to the evolution of our medium, but we’ve been leaders in so much of the innovation that has occurred. From introducing dynamic ad insertion to the space, to being among the first in emerging markets, to being first-movers in harnessing AI for creator and advertiser efficiency, to creative multichannel ad campaigns, and so much more - I’m proud that Acast has paved the way for the rest of the industry.”

As Acast continued to grow, it made a series of strategic acquisitions that have played a role in its position as the number one global podcasting company. In 2019, Acast acquired podcast hosting and analytics platform, Pippa to expand its offerings to early-stage and independent podcasters and publishers. Two years later, Acast announced its acquisition of RadioPublic to further grow and strengthen the open ecosystem of podcasting. Then, as advertiser needs for even deeper podcast insights and data grew, Acast acquired the industry’s leading intelligence engine, Podchaser, in 2022.

Throughout the last decade, Acast has consistently led podcasting in innovations that propel the entire space forward. In 2017, Acast pioneered programmatic ad buying in podcasting, which has since become a standard form of transacting in the space for media buyers. Over the next few years Acast continued to refine these offerings, as well as to launch more first-to-market ad tech capabilities to the industry including its self-serve advertising platform and first-party data targeting solution.

In addition to leading ad tech innovation and adoption in the space, Acast has also spent the past decade growing and fostering relationships with podcasters of all sizes and types around the world. Notably, in its founding market of Sweden, Acast is home to household names including Rättegångspodden, Vad fan hände?, and Dumma Människor.

In the UK, Acast works with major industry voices including Sh*gged, Married, Annoyed, Adam Buxton, The Peter Crouch Podcast and Katherine Ryan as well as all major publishers including The Times, The Guardian, and more.

Most recently, Acast has continued to grow its presence in the US working with top tier podcasts including WTF with Marc Maron, Giggly Squad, and The Bakersfield Three. Through industry partnerships with legacy brands including Warner Bros. Discovery, Acast is also home to content from Food Network, ID, and Discovery Channel. Additionally, Acast also inked a hosting, distribution and monetization deal with President Barack Obama and Mrs. Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground in 2023.

Bridging the gap between podcasters as the heart of the creator economy and brand investments in the space, this year Acast announced its approach to multi channel and integrated marketing. Following a 46% increase in advertisers booking multichannel campaigns in 2023 from the year before Acast announced continued expansion of its expert strategic recommendations and campaign execution for podcast advertisers across video, social media, live events and more for maximum scale and impact.

In celebration of this decade of growth that has led to Acast’s position as the number one podcast company globally, according to Podtrac, there will be events throughout its global markets with employees, advertisers, and podcasters. Additionally, podcasters from the Acast Creator Network around the world will be connected for a mash up series that will bring Acast voices together to help them reach new global audiences.