Almost exactly three years after forging an alliance of podcast networks, Australia’s NOVA Entertrainment and Sweden-based Acast are separating their assets and cooperative selling operation. The announcement comes a week after NOVA CEO Cathy O’Connor resigned her position to take a role with Aussie/NZ out-of-home ad company oOh!media. (<< not a typo.)
The combined podcast catalog of NOVA and Acast had reached over 13,000 podcasts, roughly distributed as Acast owning 10,000 and NOVA operating 3,000 shows. Acast claims a reach of 31-million “local listens,” while NOVA monthly plays reaches 10,000 listens in Australia. (NOVA also claims 170-million plays globally.)
“NOVA has been an incredible partner to work with and we leave on really good terms,” Acast regional managing director, Henrik Isaksson, said. “The split is simply about the incredible growth of the podcasting market and the huge opportunity Acast can offer to brands both in Australia and globally.”
Peter Charlton replaces O’Connor atop NOVA. He said this about the new arrangement: “There’s a lot to be proud of, but now’s the right time for us to build on that foundation independently. As in everything we do, Nova has big ambitions to further develop our digital audio offering, and the work we’ve done with Acast stands us in good stead to realise those.”
