Magellan seeks to democratize podcast availability to buyers with new Verified Downloads feature

In what the company calls a “major development” on its AI platform, podcast media planning platform Magellan AI is announcing Verified Downloads, a new feature which reveals show downloads, individual episode downloads, and unique listenership.

The announcement is pitched as a final piece of a comprehensive solution for podcast ad buyers to understand the total podcast landscape — “a one-stop shop for media planning and competitive intel,” the company says.

The formal announcement is new, but Magellan says that thousands of shows are participating, and there is no audience reach requirement for a podcast to participate. The democratization aspect is emphasized. CRO John Goforth pitches the Verified Downloads feature directly to startups and small shows: “Any podcast of any size can participate (at no charge) in Magellan AI Verified Downloads. That participation will ensure your show, tiny or huge, will be searchable by all of our buy-side clients. Those clients spend over $400mm per year in podcast advertising – so it’s a really cool opportunity to get directly in front of them.”

“Buying and executing podcast advertising campaigns continues to be a challenge for brands and agencies, and we’re taking yet another step forward today in streamlining that process. We’re here so every brand and agency can get rid of that hard-to-manage spreadsheet they’re using to try to keep the entire industry straight,” said Cameron Hendrix, CEO and co-founder of Magellan AI. “We’re looking forward to accelerating both the number and quality of connections made between the buy-side and the sell-side in our platform.”

The Verified Downloads tech is in beta now, and the company says it will be “widely available” in 2022. Podcasters can add shows to the Verified Downloads program HERE.

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