Audacy Creator Lab

Creator Lab is a marketplace where brands post campaigns and podcasters pitch for them, with the hosting thrown in free. A creator sets their own rate, talks to the brand directly and gets paid through the platform rather than invoicing anybody. The service fee is published rather than negotiated, which is rarer in podcast advertising than it should be. Shows too small for a network to call back are the ones this exists for.

There is no sign-up fee and no subscription. The platform takes ten percent of a successful campaign, stated on both sides of the marketplace: podcasters pay zero to join and ten percent as a service fee, and brands pay zero to list a campaign and ten percent on top of what they spend. Hosting is included at no charge. That structure means the cost of being listed and waiting is nothing, and the only bill arrives attached to money that has already come in.

A podcaster whose download numbers are too small for an ad network to return the call, but who has a defined enough audience that a brand would care. Because there is no sign-up fee and hosting is free, a show can sit here waiting for the right campaign without paying to wait. A programme already turning down sponsorship offers does not need a marketplace to find more.