Acast

Founded in 2014 in Sweden, Acast is primarily a podcast advertising platform for both creators and publishers; however, over time, it has expanded into providing more tools for podcasters, particularly with its Acast Open hosting platform. The platform hosts 20,000 podcasts reaching an average of 300 million monthly listeners and has also partnered with Patreon to host its users’ shows and distribute their private RSS feeds.

Although Acast does not offer podcast creation tools yet, podcasters can publish their content and monetize via ad sales on the Acast Marketplace. Acast offers three tiers of hosting where basic hosting (first tier) is free of charge. Podcasters can start monetizing once they join as an Acast Open’s Influencer (second tier) or Ace (third tier). The platform claims to be “the largest podcasting business in the world” based on its revenue and investments, having raised USD 126.2 million as of February 2021.

In February 2021, Acast acquired RadioPublic, a podcasting startup, for an undisclosed amount to expand its reach and improve its technology. While the RadioPublic app will remain live and operationally separate with its team based in the US, Acast hopes to strengthen its presence in the US using RadioPublic’s technology to bring more creators to the Acast platform. Founded in 2016, RadioPublic spun out of the public radio marketplace “PRX” as a mobile app for podcast listening. Over time, it shifted its focus to podcaster tools, such as its Listener Relationship Management Platform. The product provides podcasters with several creator tools, including an embeddable web player, custom websites named “Podsites,” and an “Affinity Promotions” feature where podcasters can message their most loyal listeners to promote newsletters or merchandise. The company has raised USD 1.2 million as of February 2021.

Acast launched a set of subscription tools, “Acast+,” including ad-free streams, exclusive content, and early access in March 2021. Podcasters can offer these features to paying subscribers while the company takes a cut of subscription revenue. Listeners can access this content from various podcast players, including Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. With Acast+, the company hopes to boost creator-fan engagement and increase monetization for all podcasters. A few founding partners have already seen an increase of more than 20% in monthly revenue by utilizing the new tools in beta.