Acast, a curated, multidimensional and social platform for audio on demand (AoD) and podcasts has today launched in the UK.

Thanks to patent-pending technology that integrates audio episodes with supporting content such as photos, videos, music and web links, Acast is the first app that allows users to discover podcasts through friends and recommendations and experience them in a new, layered way.

Acast also features the capability for users to share audio ‘moments’ on other social media channels by selecting a particular portion of a programme and capturing it as a shareable audio clip.

Created by award-winning Swedish tech entrepreneurs, Måns Ulvestam[i] and Karl Rosander[ii] and developed by members of the team involved in Spotify, Acast launched in Sweden earlier this year and to date has 500,000 unique users and 20 million streams.

Acast is not only set to revolutionise audio on demand for listeners. For the first time podcasters have a means to enhance their shows through providing supporting rich content, and can monetise their creative endeavours through Acast’s ad-supporting platform.

The ‘drag and drop’ function of the ‘Acast create’ tool allows podcast makers to place content, such as images, music, videos and web links within their podcasts, and also gives them the opportunity to place adverts with clean breaks during the podcast episode.

This marks the first time advertisers have been able to advertise dynamically and monetise podcasts in a non-editorial or sponsored format.

Log on to www.acast.com to experience the difference. Or find the app at Appstore for iPhone and Google Play for Android

Watch the video on Acast for mobile phone: http://vimeo.com/108875451