With the popularity of podcasting on the increase, the Dublin-based digital sales agency i-Believe has signed an exclusive deal with Acast which will give Irish advertisers the ability to reach highly engaged audiences via podcasts.
Acast’s technology connects audio makers with brands and advertisers and is used by many of the world’s leading media brands including The Financial Times, the Guardian and VICE and is home to some of the most original and entertaining podcasters such as My Dad Wrote A Porno, Blindboy and Adam Buxton. In May this year, Acast announced that it has been chosen by the BBC to be its official commercial partner to help grow all BBC podcasts and audio outside of the UK. This is the first time ever that the BBC has offered advertising around its podcast library.
Acast currently hosts nearly 3,000 shows around the world. Its reach in Ireland means that it currently generates more than 3.5m listens per month in the market. Opportunities for advertisers range from pre, mid and post roll advertising, to show sponsorships incorporating host reads. Targeting can be based on context, audience and interests, and genre as well as being show-specific.
According to Acast’s CEO Ross Adams: “Advertisers find podcasts so effective as a medium due to the uniquely intimate way listeners interact with our content. Both our own research as well as industry studies show that consumers are far more likely to engage with podcast advertising compared to other channels, with our recent study finding that 76% of listeners in the UK have acted on a podcast brand message they’ve heard.”
Acast’s UK listener research also confirms that podcasts are finding favour with advertisers because they are attracting more and more new listeners to the medium. It shows that 81% of podcast listeners cannot be reached through Spotify and 62% do not listen to commercial radio.
“The scale, content, quality environment and ability to help advertisers reach ‘the unreachables’ in a personal and engaging way is what is driving advertiser demand,” says Lee Thompson, Director at i-Believe.
“Podcasting is continuing to grow rapidly around the world. In the UK 62% of adults listen to podcasts each month and the smartphone is the most popular device for doing so,” he adds.
