Acast - Profile | The Drum

Acast was founded in 2014 and is the world’s largest independent podcast company.

A pioneer in the open podcast ecosystem, Acast’s powerful podcast monetization marketplace delivers for creators and advertisers alike. Advertisers can efficiently target an engaged audience of listeners through dynamic ad insertion, while podcasters are given access to a range of monetization opportunities — including paid subscriptions through Acast+ — and the necessary tools to expand their listener base.

If you listen to a podcast hosted with Acast and hear an ad, it’s Acast delivering that audio behind the scenes — and sharing revenue with the podcaster.

The company has a global footprint across 12 countries and, during 2020, had approximately three billion listens on Acast-connected podcasts. Today, Acast hosts 40,000 shows. Acast’s headquarters are located in Stockholm, Sweden and the Company has nine local subsidiaries in the UK, US, Australia, Norway, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico and Canada.

In recent years, Acast has undergone an expansion with continued strong growth, with net sales increasing from SEK 180 million in 2018 to SEK 1.026 billion in 2021 — representing 73% growth versus 2020.

As a result of Acast’s recent growth initiatives, the number of annual listens grew from approximately 1 billion (2018) to 3.75 billion (2021). In the fourth quarter of 2021, Acast had 1.09 billion listens.

Acast was co-founded by Johan Billgren, its Chief Innovation Officer, and is listed on the Nasdaq First North Premier Growth Market.