Independent podcast company Acast is partnering with Barometer to provide AI-driven brand safety tools across its global podcast network as advertising spending approaches $1 trillion globally by year-end.

The collaboration aims to address brand safety concerns, which, according to the Journal of Advertising Research, affect more than 80% of marketing professionals. Barometer’s technology processes thousands of podcasts through AI transcription and natural language processing to evaluate content against safety standards.

“Challenges around brand safety and suitability have long plagued the podcast industry,” said Valerie Reimer, VP of Partnerships at Acast, in a news release. “They’ve barred advertisers from valuable conversations because they lacked the contextual relevance to make an informed decision.”

The system allows brands to set custom risk acceptance levels for their advertising placements.

“Leveraging Barometer, we have been able to streamline our inventory evaluation process, eliminating subjectivity and enabling continuous reassessment throughout the year, allowing us to identify content that may be unsuitable for our brands,” stated Michael Consolazio, VP Group Director at GroupeConnect.

Barometer CEO Tamara Zubatiy highlighted the technology’s ability to expand monetization opportunities for diverse creators: “By providing transparency at scale, our brand safety technology makes it possible for brands to engage with a broader range of voices, including smaller and more diverse creators, while still meeting their safety and suitability standards.”

The partnership includes integration with ArtsAI, a Claritas company, for pixel tracking capabilities that provide ongoing brand safety monitoring throughout advertising campaigns.

This initiative represents a shift from manual content review methods, which Consolazio describes as “time-consuming and at times subjective,” toward automated assessment of podcast inventory. The technology evaluates content at the episode level, potentially expanding available inventory for brands with strict safety requirements.

In July, Acast partnered with Otonal Inc., Japan’s leading digital audio advertising agency. The company thus entered the Japanese market and expanded its global footprint in the podcast industry.