On the stages of New York's big podcast week, people from the Swedish podcast company Acast were often asked about the news that Spotify is testing ad skipping in podcasts. On 28 October 2026 the company's chief executive brushed it off to analysts with one line: "Podcasting was born with a skip button." Even so, Acast's record quarter rests on more lucrative listening and on North America, which is now its largest market.
In the third quarter of 2026, a single listen or view earned Acast on average 20% more than a year earlier. Yet listens and views, in which the company counts only HLS-format video, rose by just 4%. According to the trade site PPC Land, the second-quarter figures already described a market in which the same reach costs advertisers meaningfully more than a year earlier. The chief executive says podcast ads could be skipped from day one and on every platform, yet the company has still built a very high-value platform for advertisers.
On its platform, the company tracks how effectively it sells its ad inventory and measures this with average revenue per listen, meaning revenue divided by the number of listens and views. Revenue for the third quarter of 2026 reached SEK 802 million, 25% more than a year earlier. It was the highest in the company's history, and according to the Swedish news agency Finwire, adjusted operating profit almost tripled.
The centre of gravity across the Atlantic
In North America, revenue rose 54% year on year in the third quarter of 2026, and the segment was the company's strongest growth driver. The European segment added 5%. The company attributes the slower growth to a tough comparison and a strong second quarter that was partly supported by advertisers around the football World Cup. The Swedish podcast company is now growing mainly across the Atlantic, and since August it has also had a base in Austin, Texas, which it gained by buying the US creator network Backyard Ventures. Excluding acquisitions and currency effects, North American revenue grew by 41%.
Chief executive Greg Glenday puts the North American growth down to people and technology. North America is run by an executive vice president with relationships with senior figures in advertising. The company's people go to the decision-makers at the global advertising holding companies, and directly to clients. What matters, he says, is how many of them the company can reach and how often. Technology is meant to make buying simpler for advertisers. According to Glenday, podcast revenue is still predominantly audio.
Where the puck is going
On top of audio, the company is adding video in HLS, the format Apple chose for video. According to Glenday, more and more advertisers, listeners and creators want video. The company has it on just under a thousand shows. This part is growing. Glenday reached for the hockey advice to skate where the puck is going, adding: "I think we maybe got there a few minutes early to where the puck is going." Set against the scale the company has spent years building for listening, it is still a smaller piece.
Nor is the company yet selling all of that scale. The chief executive told analysts that supply is large and that the company is trying to bring more demand to it and sell a bigger share of it. Growing the audience is not a priority, according to Glenday, and the company can grow with the supply it has now. In reserve it also has a long tail of smaller shows towards which it can steer advertiser demand.
Comments