Page 50 - Adnews Magazine January 2022

BUILDING THE RIGHT TEAM FOR PODCASTS’ BOOM
Acast’s local business has been growing alongside the rise of podcasts. We speak to managing director Henrik Isaksson about how the team has been working together.
Throughout 2021, independent podcast company Acast expanded its team from 12 to 26 members. The growth reflects the rise of podcast consumption in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic which shifted consumer behaviour.
Henrik Isaksson, Acast AUNZ managing director, says the company is continuing to see strong demand for content even beyond the lockdown.
“The growing doesn’t really stop,” says Isaksson. “We have grown heaps in sales which has been our biggest focus, we’ve also hired an automation director as well because programmatic revenue is going through the roof.”
The team is still looking to grow in areas such as campaign manage- ment, content and PR, and marketing. Isaksson says expanding its pres- ence across Australia has been a key objective for the company, with the hire of its first Victoria-based member, Bryce Crosswell, as group sales lead for the state, in November 2021.
“I don’t think at this point we will set up offices in other regions. With COVID-19 now there are so many risks involved so at the moment we are holding back on the geographical expansion a bit, but we can service Queensland, WA and SA really well from Melbourne and Sydney.
“Victoria makes up a huge part of our revenue and this had all been done through the team in Sydney. The feedback from the market was that it is nice to have someone on the ground which is why we hired Harry and he’s a superstar. That’s gone down super well.”
In the third quarter of 2021, Acast reported net sales growth of 89% when compared to the year prior.
Across the sector, podcasting has been growing strong, with PwC’s 17th annual ‘Australian Entertainment & Media Outlook’ report forecast- ing commercial expenditure in Australian podcasting to hit $105 million in 2022, up from $5 million in 2017.
WORDS BY
MARIAM CHEIK-HUSSEIN