OpenRAP’s Growth Shows Marketers’ Appetite for Host-Read Podcast Ads.

RedCircle says since the company launched its automated host-read ad platform last year, user numbers have continued to climb for what it calls OpenRAP. When it debuted in March 2024, OpenRAP connected to 10 networks with more than 100 podcasts representing over 6 million monthly downloads. Today, it is now being used by more than 100 networks and more than 8,500 shows across a variety of publishers. The result is RedCircle’s platform now provides automated ad buying on over 145 million monthly downloads. That scale has also attracted more marketers. RedCircle says more than 180 brands are using OpenRAP to connect with hosts and their listeners.

“OpenRAP has been a rousing success over the past year,” the company says in a blog post. 

“Through OpenRAP, we’ve learned that there is certainly an appetite for host-read ad opportunities.”

RedCircle’s fully automated host-read ad platform allows marketers to buy not only shows that it hosts, but across a wider spectrum of shows. The company is doing that by using what is known as a VAST interconnection, that not only has programmatic automation features, but it also allows access to any podcast hosting company that supports VAST — a list that includes most of the industry’s biggest like Megaphone, Omny and Art19, among others. That means a marketer could place a host-read ad buy in RedCircle’s OpenRAP and access podcasts that are hosted elsewhere. When they do, RedCircle’s automated host-read system automatically manages ad insertion, measurement and reporting through a VAST interconnection, removing the time-consuming steps that have limited live-reads.

While there are other programmatic platforms selling host-reads, RedCircle says its offering is the first that is not limited to shows hosted by a single company. If a podcaster sells their own ads, OpenRAP sits behind their direct-sold campaign and fills whatever available inventory there is with high-CPM ads.

In recent months RedCircle has begun working with other hosting platforms to offer its advertising services to its podcasters. The first deal to be announced is with Simplecast, which announced in February that it was integrating OpenRAP into its hosting and monetization platform alongside the AdsWizz podcast marketplace. It said that working with third-party partners will help creators further monetize shows. “We know there is no one-size-fits-all model,” AdsWizz Director of Business Development Grace Kane said at the time of the announcement.

RedCircle says since it launched OpenRAP last year, it has learned that a majority of podcasters are interested in direct relationships with popular brands. And a Simplecast survey offers an easy explanation. The Simplecast Podcaster Insights Survey showed host reads account for 49% of its podcast revenue stream. And 75% of podcast listeners are open to hearing ads voiced by the hosts of the podcasts they listen to.

RedCircle says it is currently working on new features for OpenRAP, with additional partnerships in the works.