Placements.io, the leader in revenue and billing management for media companies, today announced that the company has launched a publisher technology integration with Megaphone, the largest podcast hosting and monetisation platform. Additionally, Megaphone has signed an agreement with Placements.io as a new client. As a client, platform and integration partner, Megaphone will work with Placements.io to streamline the process of buying and selling podcast advertising inventory.

This announcement comes as the industry observes massive growth in this rapidly evolving channel and podcast businesses everywhere seek to improve the ease and scalability of their advertising sales operations. Edison Research reported that in 2019 more than 51%, or 144 million people in the US have listened to a podcast, compared to 44% in 2018. Megaphone will leverage the Placements.io platform for their own revenue management and workflow needs. Furthermore, the companies have architected a powerful integration with Megaphone’s podcast ad server – an integration that will greatly benefit shared customers of the two companies.

“Placements.io delivers advertising automation that can help advance the progress of podcasting into a mature channel for advertisers and publishers,” said David Cohn, VP and head of sales at Megaphone. “Placements.io’s entry into podcasting comes at the perfect time in its evolution, as buyers and sellers adopt more sophisticated tools for doing business."

Podcast advertising is a unique channel for publishers, with elements of radio, traditional TV style scheduling and digital. Brands want the schedule and content-based buying they get from traditional radio, but want the optimisation, targeting and flexibility of digital. Placements.io offers a technology solution that delivers easy scheduling, activation, billing and reporting for podcast publishers that preserves the best of both worlds.

“We're thrilled to support Megaphone’s own ad business management needs and to work alongside Megaphone in this effort to help shape the future of podcast ad sales operations with our integration. It’s certainly been exciting collaborating with shared customers who are leveraging the integration and seeing tremendous value,” said Evan Bowen, SVP of strategy at Placements.io.