Acast advertising

The two products

Acast sells two different things through one self-serve flow. Pre-recorded spots are your audio, dynamically inserted across shows matching your targeting: the $15 starting CPM applies here Acast Learning Center · Jul 2026. Host-read sponsorships are read by the show’s host and start at a $25CPM premium. The gap between those two numbers is the price of the host’s voice; whether it is worth $10 per thousand is the question this page works through.

Where the numbers live, and why that matters

Acast’s main advertise page is now a form-gated pitch with no figures on it. The starting CPMs survive only in Learning Center support articles. That pattern (numbers retreating from marketing pages into help docs) is happening across the industry, and it is why this site quotes help-center URLs in the Session Log rather than linking marketing pages that say nothing.

Targeting and reach

You pick audience segments or show categories rather than individual shows in most self-serve paths. That trades control for reach: fine for a pre-recorded test, weaker if your thesis is “this specific host moves product.” For show-level host-read picks, compare Acast vs Libsyn Ads.

A note on Acast research

Acast publishes studies on podcast ad effectiveness. Acast’s study says podcast ads work. Acast sells podcast ads. Read their rate figures as facts about their own marketplace and their effectiveness claims as marketing; here is what the non-vendor evidence looks like.