Acast, the Swedish tech firm that helps companies and people publish and monetize podcasts, has introduced plans to amass podcast database Podchaser. Phrases of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Based out of Stockholm in 2014, Acast is a outstanding model within the podcast expertise house, serving as a bunch and distribution platform that enables retailers together with The Guardian and The Economist to publish their podcasts to just about any app, together with Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Acast additionally permits podcasters to dynamically insert ads into their exhibits.
The corporate has raised some $126 million in its eight yr historical past, whereas it has a minimum of two earlier acquisitions to its identify, together with RadioPublic which it purchased final yr.
Podchaser, for its half, was based out of Oklahoma in 2016, and closed a $4 million sequence A spherical of funding final yr. Podchaser is like an IMDb for podcasts, permitting customers to seek for the whole lot and something to do with podcasts, together with studying and posting opinions and filtering by class.
Billion-dollar business
Podcasting is about to turn into a $4 billion business by 2024 within the U.S. alone, in accordance with a latest report from the Interactive Promoting Bureau, representing virtually a threefold enhance on the promoting income generated final yr. These numbers are necessary when assessing why Acast is shopping for Podchaser.
Whereas Podchaser will proceed as a separate model and enterprise as soon as the acquisition closes, Acast stated that it plans a “deep integration” of Podchaser’s information, giving its prospects “authoritative, structured metadata.” Certainly, whereas Podchaser is a consumer-focused platform by way of the way it aids discoverability, it’s additionally a utility for advertisers and entrepreneurs, because it permits them to search out probably the most appropriate podcasts to promote their wares to. Focused promoting will play an necessary a part of the fast-growing podcasting business, and it’s why Acast is bringing Podchaser underneath its wing.
Acast can also be fast to place itself as a champion of open podcasting, in distinction to a few of the different giants of the podcasting world comparable to Spotify — an organization that’s persevering with to speculate closely within the podcasting medium. Whereas Spotify and its ilk are creating what many argue are walled podcasting gardens replete with unique exhibits and minimal information insights, Acast touts its platform-agnostic ethos — one that provides advertisers deep insights into actions throughout the podcasting spectrum.
“Collectively we are going to unlock the huge alternative that we all know exists for open podcasting to not simply have parity with the info held by closed, paywalled platforms, however to leap ahead and surpass them,” Acast CEO Ross Adams stated in a press launch.