Acast and Podchaser announced the launch of an AI-powered capability that allows advertisers to expand their reach in podcasting and refine their targeting further than ever before. Collections+ has been developed and tested with the Acast Marketplace and has enabled Acast to monetize 5% more shows in the first seven weeks of testing. Collections+ is now being made available to any ad platform or marketplace in the industry looking to enhance its own targeting, via Podchaser.

With Collections+, data on podcasts and their audiences is pulled from the widest range of sources across podcasting - including the hosting platform's own data, Podchaser's first-party data, Apple Podcasts and Spotify category and chart data, IAB categories, surveys and transcriptions. The data is then synthesized using AI models, sorting podcasts into verticals based on all data points about that show available. This creates the highest-quality collections for advertisers to target against in the industry, replacing the traditional method, where podcasts are categorized manually into groups which advertisers then choose to buy against for their campaigns.

This makes podcasts more discoverable to advertisers and attracting even more relevant advertising to engaged audiences than before. Data shows that 44% of US podcast advertising investment lands with the top 500 shows. But these shows only account for 12% of monthly reach, which means advertisers are missing the opportunity to target nearly 88% of the addressable podcast audience.

Collections+ benefits all parties in podcasting: for advertisers it brings more scale, better campaign diversity and increased effectiveness. For podcasters, it means greater discoverability amongst advertisers, increased chance of revenue and more shows monetized.