Spring — the industry-defining creator commerce platform — is today announcing a new partnership with Acast, the world’s leading independent podcast company. Under a shared mission of empowering creators to make money from their work and further engage with their audience, the new partnership allows podcasters to create their own online stores for free — offering bespoke products and merchandise to their fans. 

Thousands of Acast’s podcasters can soon use Spring’s 360 commerce solution to create, promote and distribute everything from custom products and clothing to NFTs for their community of listeners. Tapping into a creator’s existing brand and fanbase, merchandise is an organic next step helping podcasters to diversify their revenue streams. As each show is unique, Spring’s extensive fulfillment network — with partners including Pietra and Bondly — allows podcasters to create bespoke products that speak specifically to their community of listeners. 

A pilot program featured 11 Acast creators launching a new merchandise line and store via Spring, with participants including Goes Without Saying, Decrypt Daily, Do Go On, The Compound and Friends and other popular podcasters. Throughout the program, participants had access to Spring’s custom analytics dashboards, educational resources, and premium support channels — as well as Spring’s renowned digital products and Mint-on-Demand NFT capabilities, allowing creators to submerge themselves into Web3.

Since April, the Acast x Spring pilot has driven close to 1,000 combined product sales. 

"Using Spring to create our first-ever podcast merch has been amazing. It is so user-friendly and incredibly intuitive,” say Sephy and Wing, hosts of Goes Without Saying. “The Acast x Spring partnership has helped us feel so much more confident and supported in the process of creating our merch — from designing to marketing."

Ultimately acting as an intersection for podcasters and Spring merchandise, the trial demonstrated the potential  for heightened traffic and conversion rates. Following the pilot program, Acast and Spring will build out additional functionality to enhance the creator experience across both platforms and create more opportunities for podcasters to monetize their audience. 

On the new partnership, Spring COO Annelies Jansen says, “We are looking forward to commencing the program with Acast and are thrilled to have already noted such keen interest from Acast creators wanting to take part. Through this pilot, Spring will be able to track and measure creator behavior to ultimately develop a partnership which will enhance creator success in the long-run. Most importantly, by working with Acast on ways to improve creator accessibilities, Spring continues to make sure the power remains in the hands of the creator at all times.” 

Simon Marcus, VP of Strategy at Acast, adds: “Acast’s mission is to help more podcasters make more money in more ways, by strengthening the connections between creators and their fans. Through our partnership with Spring, we’re enabling podcasters to expand their revenue base to include custom merch and creative products — putting the creator’s brand front and center. Spring shares our vision for creator success, and we look forward to seeing what our creators come up with.”

Spring’s industry-first social integrations with platforms including Instagram, Twitch, YouTube, TikTok and Linktree enable creators to fuel fandom and revenue streams exponentially. The success of platform integrations resulted in explosive growth for Spring, with more than 9 million creators having signed up to the platform to build their socially integrated ecommerce stores as of January 2022. Currently, Spring has an average of 2,500 creators sign up to the platform every day, in efforts to diversify their revenue streams and drive community engagement.