Acast x Patreon: Another game-changing move to support podcasters of all sizes, everywhere
By Leandro Saucedo, Chief Business and Strategy Officer
Since Acast was founded just over six years ago, podcasting has exploded on a global scale — and we’ve been there every step of the way, protecting and nurturing a fair, open and profitable ecosystem for everyone.
Our laser-focused mission has always been to enable all podcasters to grow their shows exponentially everywhere, and in turn to make money from their work within that open ecosystem. Over twenty thousand of them, all around the world, are now making a living doing what they love with Acast.
Podcast ads and sponsor reads have of course become the most popular and most efficient ways to generate revenue for creators, and Acast has played a leading role in making those commercial messages better for podcasters, advertisers and listeners alike.
Today, we have more than 300 million individual listens to our shows every month, across every podcast platform and app there is — and that means, since we were founded in 2014, we’ve been able to give back more than $100m to our creators worldwide.
And, as the industry has matured, and creators have been able to diversify their income streams further, we’ve adapted with them. We’re champions of the open ecosystem, and do all we can to help podcasters earn money in all the different ways it supports — from ads and sponsorship to subscriber-only content, live events and more. We firmly believe creators should be able to make money from their efforts in multiple ways, using whichever method best suits them and their fans.
That’s why we focus so much time and energy on developing our technology, so we can bring creators better tools, more innovation and — of course — more revenue. Our latest step on that journey has been to agree a brilliant new partnership with Patreon, the world’s biggest and best membership platform.
You can read all about it here, but in short we’re using our ‘Access’ technology to enable Patreon’s community of creators to share exclusive content with more listeners — across any app. It’s the first time that’s been an option for Patreon podcasters, and will be a real game-changer for creators and listeners alike.
Podcasters will also get advanced insights on how their episodes are being consumed, and can more easily convert fans into patrons. For listeners, it means they can now get their paid-for, patron-only content right alongside the public shows they subscribe to, removing the need to manually add a private RSS or switch between different feeds — and making the whole experience a lot simpler and more enjoyable.
It’s our firm belief that all creators should be able to reach the audience their content deserves — wherever their audience happens to get their favourite podcasts — because we know that podcasters thrive when they can freely create, connect with their audiences, and make a living from their work.
This collaboration — with a partner in Patreon that shares our mission — is all about making it easier than ever for podcasters to cultivate their communities by delivering exclusive content to their most passionate fans, wherever they like to listen.
Acast has always done everything it can to support our network of podcasters, and our partnership with Patreon is one of our biggest and most ambitious moves so far. But we’re not stopping there — 2021 is going to be our most exciting year yet, so watch this space.
If you’re a Patreon podcaster, or keen to know more, you can get started by registering your interest here
