How Creator Profiles Are Changing Podcast Advertising at Acast

"We need a female fitness enthusiast who owns a dog and is into sustainability." This wasn't a dating app request, it was a brand looking for the perfect podcast host to partner with.

In podcast advertising, traditional matchmaking methods have relied heavily on contextual relevance. In this scenario, planners would’ve searched for shows about fitness, pets, or sustainability, focusing on what a podcast discusses rather than who hosts it. But what if that perfect fitness-obsessed, dog-loving, eco-conscious host actually runs a true crime podcast instead? Traditional discovery methods would likely miss this valuable connection.

When advertisers fixate solely on a podcast's subject matter, they risk overlooking hosts whose personal brands and interests perfectly align with their products. That's why we launched Creator Profiles - a feature that maps host attributes and interests beyond their show's category, ensuring podcast creators and advertisers never have a missed connection again.

What Are Creator Profiles?

After almost four years at Acast working with both advertisers and creators, I've witnessed a persistent challenge: advertisers reducing creators to listens, views, and rankings. This approach misses what makes podcast advertising uniquely powerful - the genuine connection between audiences and hosts. That connection stems from who hosts are as people, not just what they say. Savvy advertisers understand that this is the key to exceptional campaign performance.

Creator Profiles spotlight the humans behind the microphone, enabling authentic connections between creators and brands. With this feature, podcasters can share:

• Personal interests and passions
• Lifestyle information (like pet ownership or parenting)
• Brand preferences and affinities
• Sellable channels across platforms
• Seasonal content preferences
• Demographic details

This data is then surfaced to advertisers, our global sales teams, and is fed into our internal planning tools, helping uncover brand partnerships that feel natural rather than forced. When a travel enthusiast genuinely endorses luggage on their true crime podcast or a pet parent authentically advocates for a pet food on their business show, listeners respond and metrics prove it. Genuine host-reads where the podcaster is more excited about the brand lead to a 43% lift in consideration among listeners.

Advertisers Can Discover Hidden Gems

For advertisers, Creator Profiles unlock tremendous untapped potential beyond surface-level metrics. You're no longer limited to top-ranked shows that may not actually align with your brand values.

There are creators who may be natural advocates for your brand, whose audiences may not be massive but are highly engaged. Creator Profiles help you find them through nuanced targeting that traditional show categories and demographics miss. A children's clothing company can identify parent creators with young kids across diverse podcast genres—from sports to business to niche topics like retro gaming.

"Creator Profiles helped us connect brands with countless mid- and long-tail shows whose hosts were already genuine users of their products. Our advertising partners loved the authentic enthusiasm these hosts brought to their reads" — Ricardo Neto, VP of US Sales at Acast.

This deeper matching delivers:

• More genuine brand integrations
• Stronger sponsorship performances
• Better audience engagement
• More satisfying partnerships for both sides

For larger podcasts, Creator Profiles surface deeper insights that help tailor scripts and boost creative potential, giving brands a leg up in standing out from their competition. By focusing on personal connections between hosts and brands, we're creating sponsorships that resonate even more deeply with audiences across all channels.

A Powerful Addition to Acast's Monetization Suite

Creator Profiles join our expanding suite of creator-focused ad monetization tools. With Acast’s Ad Platform driving demand from more advertisers and the AdCollab tool making it easier to deliver host-reads, Acast’s creators are enjoying more brand opportunities and easier execution. 

We're already seeing creators use these tools together to increase their monetization by an average of 30% while spending less time on administration, letting them focus on what they do best: creating great content.

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Getting Started

Podcast creators can access Creator Profiles today through their Acast dashboard under the Monetization section. The setup process takes just minutes and creators choose exactly how much information they want to share.

Ready to transform your podcast advertising experience? Log in to Acast today and complete your Creator Profile. And stay tuned—in the coming months, we'll be launching even more features that make creator-advertiser matches more authentic, efficient, and rewarding for everyone involved.

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