AdLarge, Fwd. Network Partner With NumberEight For Privacy-First Podcast Targeting.

The audio rep firm AdLarge and its female-first content platform, the Fwd. network, have partnered with NumberEight, a privacy-first audience intelligence company, to deliver scalable, performance-driven campaigns without relying on cookies or IDs. AdLarge Cathy Csukas says with NumberEight, the company will now be able to offer targeting that is not only precise and effective but aligned with its values.

At the core of the partnership is NumberEight’s AI-powered technology, which leverages anonymized first-party listening signals and rich content metadata to match brands with high-value audiences. The integration enhances AdLarge’s fwd+ and AMP products, giving advertisers a way to align messaging with listener behavior, context and intent, all in a privacy-safe environment.

“This partnership is about simplifying precision,” says Robin Sloan, Executive VP of Audio Sales at AdLarge. “We’re moving beyond broad content categories to focus on actual listeners, giving advertisers the ability to reach the right people, across a portfolio that already spans 200M monthly uniques.”

AdLarge says the integration will allow it to offer brands both scale and precision, as well as activate the long tail of podcasting with data that shows incremental reach. It means that marketers can buy not only the biggest hits but reach listeners they may have previously missed. They can also optimize host-read and dynamic ads across demos, geos and interests — and do it in a privacy-first environment where relevant messages are delivered without the use of any cookies or listeners IDs.

“With AdLarge and the Fwd. network, we’re combining scale with intelligence,” said Emma Raz, Director of Commercial at NumberEight. “It’s about helping brands connect meaningfully in the moments that matter — while also respecting listener privacy.”

NumberEight has developed a tech called Podcast Lookalikes. More than a targeting tool, the company says Podcast Lookalikes enables a new type of curation, empowering advertisers to discover untapped shows that resonate with their ideal audience. It works by first analyzing what it calls the “seed podcast” to determine the podcast’s demographic characteristics using AI models trained on anonymized first-party publisher data and content metadata. Advanced natural language processing models also analyze content themes across the podcast’s episodes. Then the matchmaking occurs, as Podcast Lookalikes finds other shows that are ranked based on audience and content similarities, surfacing the closest matches to the seed podcast.

The alliance with NumberEight will also allow AdLarge and the fwd. network to offer curated sponsorships across its podcast portfolio, a move that will generate more revenue for the sales organization.

“This is a powerful layer of intelligence for our fwd+ and AMP products,” says Ilwira Marciszek, Executive VP of Revenue Operations. “It strengthens the performance we deliver for advertisers while ensuring compliance with global privacy standards.”

The announcement marks the latest move by NumberEight into digital audio. Earlier this year, the London-based company said it had formed a strategic partnership with Katz Digital in the U.S. to use its tech to help marketers buy across its network of more than 300,000 podcasts. It earlier inked similar deals with SiriusXM’s AdsWizz, Barometer and AdTonos.