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Acast has announced the launch of Acast+. The company describes its latest offering as a suite of subscription tools designed to support podcasters across various open listening platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. It explains that with Acast+, podcasters can offer ad-free streams, exclusive content, early access and more to paying subscribers.
This move, says Acast, is the “latest effort to make good on its creator-first mission of giving podcasters of all sizes creative freedom and even more ways to connect with their listeners and make money from their craft.”
The service is currently in beta. Acast reports that some founding partners have seen an uplift in monthly revenue of more than 20% while first trialling the new product suite and offering Acast+ memberships to fans.
Beta Testers
Global founding partners include Talking Politics in the United Kingdom and Somna Med Henrik in Sweden.
“When Acast+ was first presented to me I jumped at the chance to trial it,” said Henrik Ståhl, host of Somna Med Henrik. “Apart from the obvious ability it creates for me to earn more money per listen to my podcast, it also lets me be closer to my listeners by offering private content specifically for them. I’ve been able to shake up my content based on their wants and needs, which has been invaluable. To date, I’ve experienced both a new way to generate income and giving the podcast fans more of what they want,” he said.
“Talking Politics was originally conceived of as an educational resource — a way to try and make sense of the world through an easy-to-access, digestible podcast — and it’s wonderful to know that lots of students and teachers do listen,” said Catherine Carr, producer of Talking Politics. “We initially thought our Acast+ subscribers would be most interested in listening without adverts, and some are, but others are simply looking for a way to give back and support us, which is so encouraging.
“Crucially for us, this enables other people to access further learning for free. Our other podcast, History of Ideas, is ad-free and generates no income, but takes resources, time and effort to produce. Acast+, with the support of our community, means we’re able to bring this valuable educational resource to so many people’s ears — something which has been even more important during lockdowns,” she said.
Growth
Acast+ follows Acast’s recent partnership with Patreon, which lets podcasters securely distribute patron-only content to audiences across any listening platform. Acast says its mission is to provide creators with monetization options that best fit their needs, giving them more ways to make money, in more places — across platforms that are open and accessible to all.
“We’re developing the podcast industry with — and for — the creators,” explained Johan Billgren, co-founder of Acast. “With the introduction of Acast+ we’re giving our creators even more ways to connect with listeners, and to grow and monetize their shows, wherever those listeners are — supporting the open podcasting ecosystem and helping the whole industry continue to thrive,” he said.
“We know monetization will never be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution, so we’ve launched Acast+ to offer podcasters of all sizes a suite of tools that can be mixed and matched however they like,” added Matt MacDonald, Acast’s VP of Product.
Upon the wider rollout of Acast+, the company will detail further capabilities including membership tiers, dynamic promo messages, insights dashboards, and more.
Acast invites anyone interested in Acast+ to register their interest here.
