The Washington Post has developed its own internal technology for putting ads into podcasts. Rhapsocord is a dynamic ad insertion tool that can automatically identify pre-roll, midroll, and post-roll spots in a show, then add the spot and update the file. It also stores metadata about each podcast episode, which allows advertisers to target buys by topic. The Daily 202’s Big Idea will be the first of the Post’s own podcasts to test out Rhapsocord. It will later be expanded to the media company’s other shows.
“Because we built an automated system, anyone who complies with the ads API standard could serve ads into the system, whether it’s a self-serve platform or an integration with a programmatic platform,” said Aram Zucker-Scharff, ad engineering director for the Post’s Research, Experimentation and Development team.
Rhapsocord can connect to other content management systems, indicating that the Post may open up the platform to outside podcasters. It complies with IAB standards.