Acast Review: Features & Pricing (2023)

Acast +

Acast allows you to produce premium content for individuals who pay a subscription fee. You can store and handle both public and private, paywalled content in one place. Most podcast players, excluding Spotify, can access Acast+, allowing your fans to seamlessly transition to becoming paying subscribers without disrupting their experience.

You can tailor your subscription plan to meet your and your listeners’ needs, providing them with ad-free streams, early access, and bonus content while setting up a reliable and stable revenue stream. Please be aware that Acast will take 15% of the income from subscriptions. Additionally, financial transactions are handled through Stripe, which charges an extra 2.9% and $0.30 per transaction.

Distribution Tools

This platform provides comprehensive hosting services, wide distribution, and growth support to ensure your podcasts are heard everywhere. Expand your reach by making your podcasts available on all leading podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Samsung Free, and many more streaming platforms like Castbox, Google Podcasts, Overcast, and Pocket Casts.

Website & Sharing

Acast’s website has a basic layout, but it suffices for sharing your episodes. You can select the colors and fonts or let the website choose for you, while it also features a helpful guide, How to Listen To A Podcast, to assist those new to the podcast. The Head of Technical Account Management, Katie Rogers, said that Acast’s goal is to “convert samplers to listeners.”

The audio player from Acast can be customized to include buttons that allow users to follow or share the podcast. Additionally, links to social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Patreon, and Twitter can be included.

Encoding & Sound Quality

Acast wants to ensure that your audio files sound tremendous and download quickly for your listeners. To ensure this happens, they automatically optimize your audio files so that you can still provide complex audio dramas and podcasts without compromising quality or speed.

Monetization

Acast makes it easier than ever for podcasters to share their content and profit from it. You can work with some of the biggest brands in the world, pick which ones you want to feature on your show and offer exclusive benefits to your most dedicated fans with Acast+.

1. Direct Support – Acast’s easiest way to monetize is to use the Supporter feature, which provides creators with a mobile-friendly page to accept payments in various currencies. This page can be customized with a welcome and thank you messages. This feature fits into the Acast website and episodes.
2. Dynamic Ads – The podcast producer controls the dynamic content insertion process. You can pinpoint the exact timing of your pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads down to the second. Furthermore, Acast also has an AI-powered silence detector feature, which automatically detects a silent spot in your audio and inserts the ad there.
3. Crowdfunding – Acast integrates seamlessly with both Facebook and Twitter, as well as with Patreon.

Analytics & Statistics

Acast’s analytics offers a comprehensive view of your podcast’s performance, with insights on your reach, marketing, and promotion impact. As well as sources of revenue such as advertising, sponsorship, and subscriptions. Uniquely, the Audience section provides demographic information of those who listen to your show through the Acast app.

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