After the end of its recent partnership with Nova Entertainment, Acast has announced six new hires today, including the appointment of Tom Roach (pictured) as Acast’s local creative strategy lead.
The announcement follows the appointment of Adam King and Liam Daly who joined the podcast company as group sales leads in April this year.
The other new Acast hires are Isabella Gibson-Giorgio, Katalina Haddad, Michelle Smith, Diana Lee and Teresa Ly who take on account management and sales planning roles.
Henrik Isaksson, managing director for Australia and New Zealand at Acast, said: “We’re in a privileged position to be hiring and expanding – it’s a testament to both the strength of the Australian podcast industry and Acast’s leadership position within it.
“The team now offers Australia’s most comprehensive insights, strategy and sales unit that’s solely dedicated to podcasting. They represent the next stage of growth for Acast locally and present a huge opportunity for any brand looking to maximise the potential of their investment and sales objectives with podcasting. The decision to build our local sales team is something our publishers, podcasters and clients have been asking for.”
The hires come as Australia’s podcast market continues to hit record listener and revenue numbers in August with Acast continuing to exceed 31 million local listeners last month.
Acast said the new appointments will further bolster the support for Acast podcasts and innovative ad products by helping service the increased demand from agencies and brands.
Tom Roach was formerly the strategy and insights manager at Southern Cross Austereo where he led the Sydney-based strategy team to drive direction for local and national sales.
Roach commented: “I’m delighted to be joining the team at an exciting time for Acast and an exciting time for the industry. There’s a huge strategic and creative podcasting play waiting to be unleashed in Australia. Acast is already leading this globally – I’m thrilled to now take the helm locally.”
In addition to its new sales hires, earlier this year Acast launched Acast Marketplace – a new home for podcast buying globally and in Australia. Acast Marketplace gives advertisers both direct and automated access to the world’s best podcasts, the most talented creators and the most engaged listeners across every podcast platform.
Acast invented dynamic ad insertion in podcasts in 2014 – today widely adopted as the norm throughout the industry – and is now present in 13 markets worldwide.