Acast, the world's leading independent podcast platform, today announced the launch of AdCollab, which enables podcast hosts and potential advertisers to collaborate in real-time to create host-read sponsorships. The new product simplifies the podcast host-read sponsorship buying process for podcasters, advertisers, and sales teams alike, while driving scale and efficiency in host-read advertising.

Advertisers can use AdCollab to easily work with multiple podcasters from around the Acast Creator Network simultaneously, maximizing their reach and impact. This enables advertisers to directly connect with the biggest titles in podcasting globally, including WTF with Marc Maron, Shagged, Married, Annoyed, The Higher Ground Network, and more. For podcasters, AdCollab greatly reduces the amount of back and forth with sales teams and advertisers, allowing them to focus their time on creating great content that grows their listenership, and revenue.

“Empowering podcasters to create, and to earn money from that craft is a laser focus for us at Acast” said Richard Jenkins, Product Manager at Acast. “However, the process of crafting sponsorship reads has often been time-consuming and limited in scalability. We’ve developed a product to streamline the collaboration between podcasters and advertisers, while ensuring we maintain authentic and engaging ad experiences for listeners. It’s increasing efficiency, creativity, and ultimately revenue potential for content creators and brands alike.” 

Since April, Acast has been beta testing AdCollab with podcasters and advertisers throughout  the US, UK and Sweden. Early results of this testing showed improved efficiency in booking campaigns and a simplified podcast sponsorship buying process. In fact, in these initial tests, time to book a host-read campaign was reduced by more than 85%.

“Host-read ads have been a part of Pantsuit Politics since the very beginning and it’s become a fixture of the content that the audience expects as a way to learn more about the products and services that hosts Sarah Holland and Beth Silvers recommend. But the admin for one sponsorship previously took away valuable time from actually making the podcast,” said Maggie Penton, Community Engagement Manager for the Pantsuit Politics podcast. “Now with AdCollab’s streamlined process,  we not only have more time to focus on Pantsuit Politics,  but we also have the ability to work with more brands that listeners will love and that will increase the show’s monetization potential – which we also love.”

The news of AdCollab comes on the heels of Acast’s recent launch of sponsorships on its self-serve advertising platform. As macro economic challenges persist and media buyers are under greater pressure than ever before to deliver efficient, scaleable buys that deliver the highest possible returns, Acast continues to innovate and develop products that address these needs and creates seamless buying routes. 

In parallel, as Goldman Sachs anticipates that the global creator economy is poised to near half a trillion dollars in value by 2027, Acast’s innovations create more opportunities for more podcasters to earn money from their craft. In fact, since launching  in 2014, Acast has paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars directly into the pockets of its creators.

“The podcast industry was built on host-read sponsorships and at Acast, we have spent the past decade creating tools that simultaneously enable podcasters to profit from their craft and brands to increase their ROI through this advertising format, all while providing a seamless experience for listeners. Ad Collab is indicative of that evolution and Acast’s vision for the longtail of podcast monetization and campaign performance,” said Acast Chief Product Officer Matt Macdonald.

To learn more about Acast and AdCollab, visit Acast.com.