Ranker Partners with ART19 to Monetize “Deadtime Stories” Podcast

Los Angeles CA, USA—Ranker, the world’s leader in crowdsourced rankings, has teamed up with industry-leading audio platform ART19 to take advantage of the recently-launched ART19 targeted podcast marketplace.

Ranker’s new series Deadtime Stories tells haunting tales that have been submitted by fans of horror. Listeners’ stories are tied together each week by a spooky theme, and introduced by the mysterious and darkly-humored skeleton host, DeadHead.

“We’re thrilled and honored to be offering a means in which true horror fans can hear their own blood-curdling stories – true or not – on our podcast,” said CEO Clark Benson. “We know a lot about this no-longer-fringe genre, so it’s about time we give fans a chance to scare the hell out of us all!”

The new original podcast will be hosted and distributed by ART19, adding Ranker to a growing list of media companies who are leveraging the technology platform to connect advertisers on a listener by listener basis.

“Deadtime Stories” speaks directly to the more than 6 million monthly readers of Ranker’s Horror channel Graveyard Shift, as well as their existing Horror channels on Facebook with 11.5 million fans - Graveyard Shift, Unspeakable Crimes, and Everything Horror.

“We want listeners to feel their hearts race from bone-chilling audio journeys, not from annoyance at irrelevant ads,” said ART19 CRO Lex Friedman. “That’s why we’re thrilled that Ranker is using ART19’s SmartAudiences™ technology to send ads that are targeted so well, it’s scary,” he said.

ART19’s targeted marketplace enables Ranker to monetize on under-utilized inventory, as well as gain an unprecedented understanding of their fanbase through a variety of demographic, behavioral, and internet-based audience segments. With this new technology, “Deadtime Stories” will join the many series already participating in ART19’s Targeted Ad Sales program, which is serving millions of ad impressions each month.

From the uncanny to the terrifying, Ranker continues to produce exciting original content, curated by the public. It only makes sense that their ads be carefully curated in return.

The first twelve episodes of “Deadtime Stories” are available for free right now, with subsequent episodes being released every Tuesday.

To experience “Deadtime Stories” or for more about Ranker, click here.

For more information please contact hello@art19.com.

About Ranker

Ranker, a Top 40 Quantcast site, attracts more than 40 million monthly unique visitors worldwide and is the leader in fan-powered rankings on just about everything. Whatever the topic - TV, movies, video games, sports, brands, food, lifestyle - Ranker puts the vote into the hands of millions rather than a few critics to answer the questions we are most passionate about. Over 1 billion votes now power Ranker Insights, a treasure trove of psychographic correlation data that delivers personalized consumer recommendations (“if you like X, you’ll also like Y, Z”), and also audience insights to marketers, studios, and platforms seeking a deeper understanding of consumer tastes and preferences. Based in Los Angeles, with offices in Chicago and NYC, Ranker has continued growth with 90+ employees.

About ART19

ART19’s leading audio platform provides cutting-edge tools for on-demand hosting, distribution, ad serving, and audience measurement. At the intersection of publishers and advertisers, the company powers hundreds of millions of podcast downloads every month for the industry’s largest shows. ART19 enables publishers to manage all content and ad operations in one place, offering best-in-class targeting capabilities, seamless integration with listening platforms and a flexible infrastructure to continuously enhance revenue opportunities for its clients. ART19 equips advertisers with services to reach audiences through smart targeting and custom ad creative capabilities.