Audio and podcast advertising · November 2026 Edition
Spotify Ads Manager vs Acast
Two of fourteen models named Spotify Ads Manager first on the direct prompt; one named Acast. Both were named by all fourteen models and Spotify Ads Manager carries 58 labels and Acast 45, so the shares are not directly comparable.
Named in one category this edition.
Named in one category this edition.
First-choice share20%10%Of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, 0 to 100.
Negative rate10%7%Negative labels as a share of the product's labels, 0 to 100.
Rank in category#3#4A position in a field of 11; printed, not drawn.
Labels5845A count; the two differ.
The two percentage rows are drawn on one 0 to 100 track, Spotify Ads Manager reading right to left. Rank and label count are printed, not drawn.StackAdapt was named alongside these two in eleven of the fourteen direct answers. AudioGo vs Spotify Ads Manager · AudioGo vs Acast · StackAdapt vs Spotify Ads Manager
Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all fourteen models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category; every quote names the model and the prompt it came from. Both figures come from the audio and podcast advertising page.
By framing
How many of the fourteen models made each the first choice, per way of asking, and how many argued against it.
Spotify Ads ManagerFirst choices, of fourteen modelsAcast
Direct21
Paraphrase24
Comparative64
Budget-constrained601 against Acast
Scale-constrained00
Negative126 against Spotify Ads Manager · 2 against Acast
Bars are first choices, 0 to 14 each sideModels that argued againstA model can name both, so the two sides of a row do not sum to fourteen.
Across every category in the November 2026 Edition, Spotify Ads Manager and Acast were named in the same answer ninety-one times, of the 161 answers naming Spotify Ads Manager and the 124 naming Acast. In those answers Acast took the first choice fourteen times and Spotify Ads Manager twenty-three.
Every model, every framing
The eighty-four answers behind the chart above, one cell each: where Spotify Ads Manager and Acast stood in it.
| Model | Direct | Paraphrase | Comparative | Budget-constrained | Scale-constrained | Negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | | | ||||
| GPT-5.4 mini | | | | |||
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | | | | | ||
| Perplexity Sonar | | | | | | |
| Grok 4.20 | | | | | | |
| Mistral Small | | | | |||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | | | | |||
| Llama 4 Maverick | | | ||||
| Qwen 3.7 Flash | | | | |||
| Kimi K2 | | | | | | |
| GLM 4.7 FlashX | | | | |||
| MiniMax M2.5 | | | | | | |
| GPT-6 Luna | | | | | | |
| Muse Glimmer 30B | | | | |
Spotify Ads Manager Acast first choice named as an alternative argued againstblank: not namedEach cell is one answer, Spotify Ads Manager on the left and Acast on the right.The direct prompt
The plain question, one answer per model, grouped by where Spotify Ads Manager and Acast stood in it.
Spotify Ads Manager first, Acast an alternative
2 of 14 modelsAcast was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GPT-5.4 miniSpotify Ads Manager alternatives: Acast, Gumball, The Trade Desk
Kimi K2Spotify Ads Manager, StackAdapt alternatives: The Trade Desk
Acast first, Spotify Ads Manager an alternative
1 of 14 modelsSpotify Ads Manager was named in the answer but not as the choice, or not at all.GPT-6 LunaAcast alternatives: Spotify Ads Manager
Neither was the first choice, one was named
4 of 14 modelsThe answer put something else first and named one of the two as an alternative.Gemini 3.5 FlashBasis, The Trade Desk alternatives: Acast, AdvertiseCast, SiriusXM Media
Perplexity SonarStackAdapt alternatives: 6sense, Demandbase, Spotify Ads Manager
Grok 4.20StackAdapt alternatives: Acast, AdsWizz, Spotify Ads Manager
MiniMax M2.5AdRoll ABM, StackAdapt alternatives: Spotify Ads Manager
Neither was named
7 of 14 modelsThe answer made no first choice from these two in this category.Claude Haiku 4.5StackAdapt alternatives: Spotify Advertising, Terminus, Triton Digital
Mistral SmallSpotify Advertising, StackAdapt alternatives: The Trade Desk, iHeartMedia
DeepSeek V4 FlashStackAdapt alternatives: AudioGo, Spotify Advertising, iHeartMedia
Llama 4 MaverickAdRoll ABM alternatives: AudioGo, StackAdapt
Qwen 3.7 FlashSpotify Advertising alternatives: StackAdapt, The Trade Desk, iHeartMedia
GLM 4.7 FlashXStackAdapt alternatives: AudioGo, ProspectBase
Muse Glimmer 30BSpotify Advertising alternatives: Intentsify, ProspectBase, StackAdapt, The Trade Desk, iHeartMedia
Bold names in an answer are the products the judge labeled a first choice; a model naming several gives each of them that label. The full answer text for every row is in the record.
By buyer segment
The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment and they are never added together. The figures above are the mid-market standing, which is the one the category orders by.
Small business
Spotify Ads Manager leads by twenty-seven points.
Spotify Ads Manager35%#2 of 8Acast8%#3 of 8Mid-marketThe figures above
Spotify Ads Manager leads by ten points.
Spotify Ads Manager20%#3 of 11Acast10%#4 of 11Enterprise
Spotify Ads Manager leads by two points.
Spotify Ads Manager6%#3 of 12Acast4%#5 of 12What the models said about Spotify Ads Manager
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of eight in this category shown.
“Cheap, broad self-serve buys—such as Spotify Ads Manager or AudioGO—if treated as proven acquisition channels rather than small tests.” Perplexity Sonar · negative prompt · soft negative
“Mixed but notable complaints about poor targeting, low conversion rates, and "programmatic" delivery that feels spammy or ineffective” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · soft negative
“Ad Studio specifically has a 27% negative rate, meaning a significant number of users have had poor experiences with it” Mistral Small · negative prompt · soft negative
“Spotify offers a unified self-service platform that lets you target users listening to either music or spoken-word content within the Spotify app.” Qwen 3.7 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“the best audio advertising platform is often Spotify Ad Studio because it lets smaller advertisers run audio ads with relatively low minimums” GPT-5.4 mini · budget prompt · first choice
“Choose Spotify if you want self-serve access to a huge engaged audience with strong contextual targeting via music and podcast streaming.” Kimi K2 · comparative prompt · first choice
What the models said about Acast
Every negative label with a quote, up to three, then the highest-weighted positives, up to three. Six of seven in this category shown.
“managed/host-read campaigns jump to $10k–$15k with mixed ROI reports... can feel overpriced for smaller advertisers” Grok 4.20 · negative prompt · soft negative
“can sometimes lead to brand safety concerns if not properly managed” Mistral Small · negative prompt · soft negative
“Slightly higher barrier than AudioGo or Spotify” DeepSeek V4 Flash · budget prompt · soft negative
“Acast is widely considered the strongest platform for advertisers who want their audio ads to appear across almost every podcast listener's device” Qwen 3.7 Flash · comparative prompt · first choice
“Acast — Offers AI transcript analysis, pre-bid verification, and episode-level contextual controls across 140,000+ shows.” GLM 4.7 FlashX · negative prompt · first choice
“For most advertisers, Acast is the strongest overall podcast advertising platform in 2026” Muse Glimmer 30B · comparative prompt · first choice
Also compared
Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category, each against each. The output is the models' output; nothing here is a recommendation by the index.