Acast launches Acast Marketplace; iHeartPodcasts come to Australia

Acast has launched Acast Marketplace, allowing any advertiser direct and automated access to the company’s podcasts. The company earnt $40m from ad revenue last year.

From Podcast Movement Evolutions - here is our Editor’s speech on international podcast consumption. We’re grateful to Podcast Movement for helping us with the audio from the event.

The Australian Radio Network has launched the iHeartPodcast Network Australia. Like similar companies in New Zealand, Mexico and Canada, ARN has a brand agreement with the US’s iHeartMedia for usage of the brand and app . The company claims 30 million “impressions” across Australia.

The Podcast Academy, first announced a few weeks ago, has sent their first email, announcing that they anticipate accepting members in early Spring. The email also contains some interesting information about the Academy’s administrative staff, and its relationship to a similar organisation.

• The email is signed by “Michele Cobb, Executive Director”. Cobb is also the Executive Director of the Audio Publishers Association, “a not-for-profit trade association that advocates the common, collective business interests of audio publishers”. It runs an audiobooks awards ceremony, a conference, and regularly commissions research about audiobooks from Edison Research (which also produces podcast research). Cobb also publishes AudioFile Magazine which publishes its own podcast; once worked for the BBC’s audiobooks division, and runs her own consulting company.

Aug 21 2023: This broken link now points to the Internet Archive.
• JoAnna Laskas also signs the email. Laskas is “Account Manager” for The Podcast Academy. She also lists herself as Account Manager and Events Manager for the Audio Publishers Association; an EP for Thresher Media; the Finance Director and Business Manager for Black Spot; and a Production Stage Manager for Pelorus Studio.

This link is no longer available, as at Aug 21 2023
• Both the Audio Publishers Association and The Podcast Academy share offices in Hudson Street, New York - the address is also used for Pink Noise, an audio production house; Black Spot, a “content creation” company; Pelorus Studio, a recording studio; Thresher Media, a “rapid-response 360 creative” company, and ASL Productions, a video production company.

Whooshkaa has added a one-click integration to distribute shows on Deezer, the company has announced.

Podbean has published its top livestreamers for January, based on engagement scores (indicating listenership, listener interaction and support). The top livestreamer was Les Millionnaires des Diamants, a daily French-language podcast.

On Feb 4, we reported the launch of Reports, a service that reported on publicly-available subscriber numbers for your podcast. Twenty days later, the product has shut: an email says “We haven’t found a way to make that product sustainable and accurate enough to deliver something relevant for you. Thus, we have decided to stop our Reports product today.” Our email tipper adds: “That didn’t last long.” Mind, at least they tried.