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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PODAPP (Making Audio-On-Demand Accessible, Democratic and Commercially viable)

Teaser

Acast takes into consideration three main stakeholders, namely Podcasters (i.e. content creators), Advertisers and Listeners. These groups all have different issues being addressed by the PODAPP Project; Podcasters are not getting paid enough for the content they are...

Summary

Acast takes into consideration three main stakeholders, namely Podcasters (i.e. content creators), Advertisers and Listeners. These groups all have different issues being addressed by the PODAPP Project; Podcasters are not getting paid enough for the content they are producing, Advertisers are lacking reliable statistics in order to measure ROI on campaigns, and Listeners have a hard time finding new and more content to listen to.

In the process of democratising podcasting as a media, Acast aims to let anyone publish and monetise their own podcast. In order for these shows, and podcasts in general, to grow, Acast aims to improve discoverability via smart recommendation engine and indexing. By helping this growth and by collecting valuable and trustworthy statistics, advertisers will see the value of reaching out to the listeners and thus contributing to the podcasting value chain.

Work performed

During M01-M12, Acast has laid a foundation for automating internal processes, monetisation and revenue streams. This has been done by implementing a new ERP system, switching ad servers, developing a Calculation Module and integrating with a global mass payout system. Much of what was previously handled manually is now automated and thus better prepared for scaling Acast’s business.

Through automating internal processes and releasing an updated version of the content management system ‘Create’, Acast has increased the efficiency and simplicity in on-boarding new content creators (podcasters), considerably lowering the threshold of technical skill required to launch a show.

Moreover, Acast has built a machine learning recommendation engine for individually suggested shows and episodes, which is continuously upgraded to deliver improved recommendations to the listeners.

Since start of the PODAPP project, Acast has launched an office in Australia, with the aim of becoming global market leaders within the podcasting industry. Further preparation work, through quantitative and qualitative analysis, has been completed for taking next steps for expansion and democratising podcasting as a media.

Final results

In building the infrastructure for the future of radio, Acast has grown from hosting 1,000 podcast and 50 million monthly listens by application date, to now hosting and monetising some 3,000 podcasts, both from independent podcasters and media houses, with 100 millions listens per month from more than 100 countries.

By end of the PODAPP Project, the whole process of publishing podcasts will be improved and automated, and the advertising process will be the only comprehensive, fully automated, scalable, easy to-use customer experience on the market. Further, Acast’s platform will greatly simplify discovering, subscribing to, and listening to all podcasts.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.acast.com.