Podcast advertising company Acast could be described as announcing that it has acquired RadioPublic , you see, the startup that spun out of public radio economy PRX in 2016.
At first, RadioPublic’s crucial product was a mobile app on behalf of podcast listening, and it still hold up the app. But co-founder and even Chief Product Officer Matt MacDonald said that over time, the team’s focus your attention shifted to products for podcasters, specifically its Listener Relationship Disposal Platform, which includes an embeddable internet site player, custom websites called Podsites and more.
“We a new whole roadmap of things the reason for writing this is to build, but we recognized that at our scale, we could be better served by partnering up with main organizations, ” MacDonald said.
And last but not least, they decided Acast made become aware of as not just a partner, but an possesor. Acast’s business still revolves around podcast advertising , but it’s also expanded complete with new tools like the Acast Open organizing platform , and it says the now hosts 20, 000 podcasts, collectively reaching 300 million annual listeners.
“The acquisition of RadioPublic is fundamentally a partnership of values, ” said Acast’s chief business and as a result strategy officer Leandro Saucedo from a statement. “We both firmly also believe in the open ecosystem of podcasting and have a shared commitment to assist listener discovery and support each of creators. We’re impressed by what RadioPublic has achieved and we believe that this — as podcasting is acquiring more momentum than ever before — is the perfect time to bring RadioPublic’s talented staff and company missions into the Acast fold. ”
A new financial terms of the acquisition were not shared, but Acast says it will not shape RadioPublic operationally.
MacDonald and his co-founder/CTO Chris Quamme Rhoden are both joining Acast (CEO Jake Shapiro left last fall to acquire creator partnerships for Apple Podcasts), and although they’ll be functioning to integrate RadioPublic features into the Acast platform, MacDonald said the easier will continue to support its own services mobile apps for “the in the foreseeable future. ”
He add on that as RadioPublic works with Acast, the team will remain focused on “strengthening because deepening that relationship, that days and nights, that affinity between the podcaster together with the listener. ” In his view, that’s where RadioPublic’s opportunity lies, untill big platforms like Spotify get yourself podcasting.
“How do we enable you, as the creator, to operate the relationship you have with your audience? ” MacDonald said. “We believe that a podcast’s listeners are the podcast’s audience members. They are not the platform’s customers. ”
