Podcast platform Acast has partnered with Amazon Music to launch a Canada-wide podcast program designed to amplify indie podcasters within the Acast network.
Selected Canadian indie creators will be highlighted in a special collection on Amazon Music’s homepage, and both the music platform and Acast will help drive listeners to the collection by boosting it on their respective social channels.
“The beauty of podcasting is its accessibility to indie creators to explore the medium and to find creative ways to engage audiences,” says Heather Gordon, managing director of Acast, Canada. “For advertisers, indie creators are a valuable key to authentically reaching those listeners. Investing in these podcasters now allows them to continue creating content that strengthens the future of the entire industry.”
According to the 2023 Canadian Podcast Listener Report, monthly listens have increased from 34% last fall to 36% this year. “More importantly,” Gordon notes, “this number represents a 52% increase in listens since the first Canadian Podcast Listener Report released in 2017.”
“As Canadian podcast listenership continues to increase, we’ve found that these audiences are receptive and engaged when it comes to advertising,” she adds, noting that in a recent Acast study, “Eighty-eight per cent of Canadian podcast listeners have taken action after hearing a podcast ad.”
Acast was founded in 2014 and has built a global marketplace of over 100,000 podcasts, 2,300 advertisers and 400 million monthly listens, hosting major podcast brands like BBC, Marc Maron, The Economist, and the Obama’s Higher Ground. It opened its Canadian office in 2020.
Here, Acast is home to well-known brands and indies alike, including Under the Influence, Backstage at the Vinyl Cafe, Canadaland, Jessi Cruickshank’s Phone a Friend, Cat & Nat Unfiltered, Canadian True Crime, and the Playmaker Sports catalogue, along with French Canadian content including Over ‘n Out, Trip de Bouffe, Urbania’s Les Pires Moments de l’Histoire, and The Pantelis Podcast.
The platform launched Conversational Targeting capabilities (honing in on what’s being said in a podcast to provide more contextual ad placement) in June 2022, and audience segment targeting on its self-serve ad platform back in April. Going forward, Acast intends to continue to ink partnership deals with brands like Amazon Music to amplify its podcasters.
The submission period for Canadian indie podcasters to be considered for the program ends November 10, 2023, at which point selected podcasters will be added to the dedicated special collection page on Amazon Music, followed by month-long amplification.
