Acast AU/NZ adds new Brand Suitability controls for advertisers

Acast — the global independent power source of podcasting — is now providing Brand Suitability controls for brands advertising through the Acast Marketplace, the world’s leading premium podcast marketplace. This new innovation is part of a global partnership with Comscore, and will be available to all advertisers working with Acast Australia and New Zealand.

The new Brand Suitability solutions offered by Acast will further help brands to avoid content that they may deem inappropriate or unsuitable for their unique sensitivities and values. Ads will be targeted inside specific parameters, thereby avoiding any potential brand safety incidents and the potential negative consequences that come with it.

Using Comscore’s brand safety categorisation, Acast can ensure advertising campaigns are positioned next to non-harmful and appropriate content, on an episodic basis. When buying ads across podcasts via the Acast Marketplace, advertisers can now apply intelligent ‘low’, ‘medium’ or ‘high’ risk level categorizations.

Through Acast Marketplace, Acast offers market-leading services, which include the most innovative technology and formats that deliver scale, efficiency and effectiveness for advertisers.

Henrik Isaksson (pictured above), Managing Director of Acast Australia and New Zealand, said: “We always encourage brands to understand that podcast listening is an intimate relationship between host and listener, where listeners opt into the stories and conversations they choose to listen to. It’s because of this that Acast has taken a more nuanced approach to Brand Suitability. Along with our Community Guidelines, this new Comscore partnership is one of a number of tools Acast have in place in regards to content to ensure complete confidence for advertisers.

“We’ve listened to what our clients want and now, through our partnership with Comscore, we can cater to bespoke requests for clients based on what they uniquely perceive to be unsafe for their brand — opening doors for brands who may previously have been reluctant to make podcasting part of their media mix.”

Lee Blickstein, Vice President, Activation Solutions, Comscore said: “We are excited to bring our industry-leading podcast brand safety to Acast. Podcasts are one of the fastest growing channels in advertising and it is critical that advertisers have sophisticated tools tailored to meet their subjective brand safety needs without sacrificing audience reach. Our solutions will help these brands go beyond app-level and podcast series-level assessments to set up brand safety for their podcast media plans that align with their brand image while supporting podcast publishers in a way that makes sense.”