Acast launches Sponsored Stories in Australia and New Zealand

Acast Australia and New Zealand will now offer advertisers and brands Sponsored Stories, which can run anywhere from 90 seconds to four minutes.

The advertising product is an extension of the traditional live read, but the focus is on storytelling, Acast said. It could involve a podcast host interviewing someone external to the podcast, or a recording outside the normal studio environment.

The Sponsored Stories will be dynamically inserted into ad breaks across a show’s entire back catalogue.

Sponsored Stories was created by Acast Creative, the company’s in-house creative ad solutions team, and has already launched in other markets including the UK.

Tom Roach, creative strategy lead across Australia and New Zealand, said podcast advertising is growing in the region, with significant demand from brands to advertise within the audio environment.

“By introducing Sponsored Stories, we’re allowing our podcasters and the brands they choose to work with even more space to be creative — to do something a little different to the traditional sponsorship read — while at the same time creating an immersive experience for the listener,” he said.

“Many of our publishers and independent podcasters don’t have the resources to create large-scale branded content campaigns, so this product also gives them an opportunity to work with brands on creative executions with high production values.”

Last month, Acast also introduced subscription and monetisation tools for podcasters, with the launch of Acast+.

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