Acast celebrates a decade of growth and achievement in podcasting

Acast is the world’s largest independent podcast company and celebrates its 10th birthday today.

The company has continued to expand across the globe and now boasts nearly 125,000 podcasts, enabling advertisers to reach listeners in practically every country worldwide.

This has led to more than 37 billion ads served globally and since launch, Acast has paid more than $300 million directly to creators around the world.

In 2014, Acast launched in Stockholm, its name inspired by the idea Anyone Can Make A Cast. The business quickly expanded internationally to the UK, then around Europe with offices opening in Norway, Ireland, France, and Germany.

In 2016, it opened its first North American office in New York City. Sydney, Australia soon followed. In 2021, Acast undertook an initial public offering to be traded on the Swedish stock exchange.

As one of its first major marks on the podcast industry Acast invented dynamic ad insertion, which enables up-to-date and relevant advertising to be inserted into a podcast episode at the moment a listener hits play.

For the first time, this made podcast advertising possible beyond advertising being hard-wired into the episode itself (or “baked in”), and enabled podcasters to monetise their entire back catalogues.

This technology has now been widely adopted throughout the industry and played a significant role in shaping and accelerating today’s podcast advertising market.

Acast CEO Ross Adams said: “It’s been a meteoric rise for Acast. 10 years is a lifetime in podcasting and it’s pretty incredible to reflect on how much this team has accomplished in that time.

“Over the past decade we’ve not just had a front row seat to the evolution of our medium, but we’ve been leaders in so much of the innovation that has occurred.

“From introducing dynamic ad insertion to the space, to being among the first in emerging markets, to being first movers in harnessing AI for creator and advertiser efficiency, to creative multichannel ad campaigns, and so much more – I’m proud that Acast has paved the way for the rest of the industry.”

Acast has made a series of strategic acquisitions that helped place it as the number one global podcasting company. It has also consistently led podcasting in innovations such as programmatic ad buying.

In celebration of this decade of growth that has led to the company’s position as the number one podcast company globally, according to Podtrac, there will be events throughout its global markets with employees, advertisers, and podcasters.

Additionally, podcasters from the Acast Creator Network around the world will be connected for a mash up series that will bring Acast voices together to help them reach new global audiences.

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