The campaign is taking place during UK Disability History Month.
Acast is encouraging its podcasters to open their shows with visual descriptions of the hosts for those who are visually impaired – as they don’t get to experience cover art or social media posts in the same way. This is in line with the company’s commitment to sharing the medium of podcasting with as many listeners as possible.
Although podcasts are primarily audio only, video podcasts and promotional clips are increasingly shared across social platforms and other channels.
Sometimes a quick image search of podcast hosts can help add context to a conversation, and artwork often features images of the hosts. All of these aspects of podcasting are unavailable to visually impaired listeners.
Katherine Ryan’s Telling Everybody Everything, Dane Baptiste Questions Everything and The Football Ramble are the first Acast Creator Network podcasts to add these visual descriptions.
Here’s an example:
Acast says it knows this is a very small first step in making podcasting an accessible space bit it will continue to work on other similar initiatives.
The next step will be to release additional guidelines in early December. These will include tips and best practices for all podcasters to make their podcasts and affiliated socials accessible, with links to useful articles.
