“Keyword targeting helps us even better match great shows and audiences with the right advertisers – regardless of the size of the podcast. We have a highly valuable asset of untapped ad inventory in our growing base of 88,000 shows, many of them mid-size shows, what I call "the Heart". These shows right at the heart offer outstanding engagement and ROI for smaller advertisers, like SMEs, that want to access the podcast medium but may have fewer resources than the big brands. Keyword targeting is a part of our winning tech to match shows with advertisers in a scalable way, selling across more podcasts that are not yet monetized to their full potential”, says Ross Adams, CEO of Acast.

With keyword targeting, advertisers can align their message with the most contextually relevant content spoken being about within an episode. This significantly increases targeting relevance, reduces wastage, and results in a more contextually relevant advertising experience for listeners.

As podcast advertising demand continues to grow, advertisers are paying greater attention to brand safety and brand suitability. Keyword Targeting also enhances Acast’s existing brand safety capabilities through precise keyword exclusions.

Acast launched a new suite of capabilities called Conversational Targeting earlier this year with IAB Category targeting, and keyword targeting is the second of several tools to be released. Both enable advertisers to target on the episode level, and are now available in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Dutch, with more languages to be added in the near future.

The launch of keyword targeting also follows a recent announcement of another enhanced advertiser capability from Acast - the ability for advertisers to integrate their own first party data into podcast campaigns, for the first time ever.