Otonal
Address: 
Tokyo, Japan
A Tokyo-based digital audio advertising and podcast technology company
Website: otonal.co.jp
About Otonal
Otonal Inc. is a leading digital audio advertising and audio technology company based in Tokyo, Japan, with a mission to build Japan's domestic digital audio market. To date, Otonal has planned over 4,500 digital audio campaigns and supported more than 1,500 clients with ad placements and optimization. As a trusted branding partner in audio, the company supports both advertisers and media publishers to drive the growth of the audio ecosystem in Japan.
Otonal provides end-to-end audio marketing support, including data-driven campaign planning, audio creative production featuring professional narrators and voice actors, ad distribution, detailed reporting, and original podcast production. Additionally, Otonal powers the Japanese audio industry by providing cutting-edge ad technologies such as audio ad servers, SSPs, and audio CMS platforms. This enables audio apps, radio stations, and gaming publishers to implement digital audio ads and open up new advertising inventory.
Latest news
- Jun 26: In Tokyo, Otonal has launched a podcast and audio ad localization service, to help global brands adapt their English-language content into the Japanese market. Literal translations, the company says, simply don't work well in Japan, with complex levels of politeness, and grammatical structures that mean call-to-actions are at the end of a sentence.
- Mar 27: More people are listening to podcasts in Japan than ever before, according to a new survey on podcast usage from Otonal and the Asahi Shimbun Company. More than three-quarters of podcast users are watching video podcasts at least once a month, says the study; the number one platform for podcasts overall is YouTube. Among younger listeners (those aged 15-29), podcast usage is bigger than Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and TikTok.
- Feb 17: Wanting to advertise in Japan? Digital audio company Otonal has added a new service for Japanese Audio Ad Localization. The company says that word-for-word translation can easily overrun 15 or 30-second slots, and fine-tuning the language used is vital to get an ad working well for Japanese listeners. The new service will fix the language ("to appropriate politeness levels"), as well as find voiceovers and audio files.
- Mar 26, 2025: YouTube is the #1 podcast platform in Japan, according to a new report from Otonal and the Asahi Shimbun Company. A new high of 17.2% of Japanese adults aged 15-69 listen at least once a month; that figure rising to 34% for 15-19 year-olds.
- Jul 3, 2024: Acast is to expand into Japan with a new partnership with Otonal Inc. The partnership will open up Acast’s 125,000 podcasts to the Japanese market, including that of the BBC, Financial Times, The Guardian and History Hit.
Data credits: Google Maps, Podnews newsletter