The goal of Podcaster Profiles is to spotlight people in all parts of the podcasting industry, not just the people behind the mic. After all, on the average movie set, less than one percent of the people on the set are the people you see on the screen.
Molly DeMellier, Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Acast, is a voice to be reckoned with even though she's not in front of a microphone.
First, let's tell you about Acast so you will understand Molly's employer and its place in the industry.
Acast is a Swedish-founded company that provides hosting, monetization and growth support for podcasts, and podcast advertising solutions for brands and media agencies. Launched in 2014,
it developed a dynamic insertion technology which can target
advertising within podcasts based on location, time, and personal data.
At Ear Worthy, we find this part of the company's strategy commendable: "The company champions an independent and open ecosystem for podcasting,
where podcasts hosted with Acast are available on all podcast listening
apps."
Acast hosts over 140,000 podcasts, with over 430 million listens every
month. The company operates worldwide with a physical presence in 15
countries, and has its headquarters in Stockholm, although Molly will tell you, "New York City and the noise of Manhattan streets are my daily soundtrack these days."
Let's start at the beginning and let Molly tell you about her childhood.
"I'm a small town country girl from an old Christmas tree farm in Norwich, NY, why they still don’t even have cell service!"
Perhaps Molly's achievement mindset was formed in her childhood.
Molly explains: "I grew up the youngest of three by nearly six years and absolutely idolized my older siblings. Everything they did, I wanted to do and I didn’t have the patience to wait six years for it to be my time. This had me skiing at the age of two, learning to play Texas Hold ‘Em at 11, playing soccer with 18 year olds by 12, and sitting for the SATs at 13."
Molly explains that world events had a profound impact on her family.
"My dad owned a small travel business in my town that he made the difficult decision to sell after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 significantly impacted his business. With my older siblings close to college at that time, he made a career change to selling print ads in our local newspaper. Travel had always been his passion, but he put our family first and managed to excel in a dying industry. I vividly remember that each Friday a gift card to the local grocery store would be given to the top salesperson and Dad won nearly every week for a decade straight. It kept us afloat as a family and earned him an award as the top salesman in all of New York State in 2012."
Molly credits her mother for her educational success by working and studying hard.
Molly says: "My mom was an elementary school teacher and is to credit for my education. She had high expectations for all of us and knew when we were applying ourselves and when we were just coasting. The rule in our house was that we were allowed to play sports if we had a 90 average or above in school."
Thinking of college, Molly recounts: "When it came to college, my siblings had once again left big shoes to fill. My older sister was in law school and on her way to becoming the youngest assistant district attorney in our neighboring county. My brother had graduated as his class valedictorian and became one of a select few from our area to go Ivy League, where he majored in mechanical and aeronautical engineering."
Molly ventured to Vermont to attend Castleton State College, where she was recruited to play basketball and would later walk on to the Women’s Cross Country team. Her passion for writing led her to major in journalism and she quickly found my place within our school newspaper, The Spartan, and spent two years as the managing editor.
Molly goes on to explain: "Though I was a writer at heart and devoured the works of Allen Ginsburg and TS Eliot, my curiosity for business wasn’t satisfied in journalism. I discovered public relations (PR) as the intersection of writing and business. I completed my undergraduate degree a semester early and applied to one graduate school: NYU School of Professional Studies – the best program in the country for PR. I was accepted and in the blink of an eye went from my sleepy college town in Vermont to bustling Manhattan."
Her first PR position out of graduate school was with a mid-sized agency called LaunchSquad. It was at LaunchSquad that she discovered her interest in companies that sit at the intersection of entertainment and technology.
Molly observes: "I was exposed to some of the most well-known brands in entertainment like Netflix, the iHeartPodcast Network, and Getty Images. At this very early stage of my career, I worked on news with major celebrity talent including Will Ferrell, Shonda Rhimes, and Jimmy Fallon. For Netflix, I was on the research and development team for a new product that eventually became the “Top 10” list that the platform is known for today and helped the team bring it to market."
At the time, Molly was living in a tiny apartment with a few up and coming standup comedians. She became close to comedian Erica Spera, and they decided to start their own podcast together called Shooters Gotta Shoot. As two former collegiate basketball players trying to navigate early adulthood in New York, they talked about dating and relationships and particularly the challenges and pressures on women today.
Molly says: "From a business and content creation standpoint I became enamored with podcasting. When a PR Manager role opened at a little Swedish company called Acast, I jumped at the opportunity. Nearly four years later, I now oversee our marketing and PR efforts for all of the U.S."
Molly admits that she's been a podcast fan for a long time.
Molly says: "As Erica and I were building Shooters Gotta Shoot, I often listened to other shows in our genre like UUp?, JTrain, and Girls Gotta Eat. I soon found myself deeply immersed in the world of true-crime with shows like Morbid, Crime Junkie, Dark Downeast, and Very Scary People. Today, I’m still a true-crime fanatic and also an avid listener of Armchair Expert."
Ear Worthy then asked Molly how can Acast improve listeners' discoverability of podcasts?
Molly answers: "We do this in a few ways. We work with partners at Spotify and Apple to include relevant new content in their ‘New & Noteworthy’ sections to spotlight recently released shows. For newly released content, we conduct PR campaigns to grow awareness of the show. We also coordinate guest appearances for podcasters within our own network and run in house ads of our shows across the network to expose talent to new audiences."
Molly also insists that Acast sees indie podcasters as collaborators.
Molly notes: "While indie podcasters typically draw a smaller audience compared to major shows on the top ranking charts, the majority of listeners do tune in to indie shows. In fact according to Acast’s Podcast Pulse report, 80% of listeners tune in to niche podcasts with content made for people with specific interests. Among these niche podcast listeners specifically, 94% have taken action after hearing a podcast ad – proving the value of this content for brands and media buyers."
Molly and Acast also believe that video and social media will play a larger role in the medium. "As this continues to take shape, I anticipate that podcasters will be seen by brands as multi platform content creators that are crucial to their advertising strategies."
Molly continues: "When it comes to video specifically, our recent Podcast Pulse report found that 77% of podcast listeners have watched a video version of a podcast and 72% of podcast listeners say they will consider brands advertised by podcasters on YouTube."
Molly observes: "The power of podcasting has always been in the unique connection between the host and their audience. Visual components, like video and social media platforms, add to that feeling of connection for many listeners. In fact, nearly 50% of podcast listeners say they feel more engaged with podcast hosts they see or hear outside of the show."
One of our most critical questions to Molly was about what Acast can do to better support indie podcasters.
Molly answers: "One of the most significant ways that Acast supports indie podcasters is by ensuring they have opportunities to monetize their work through our self-serve advertising platform. All 140,000 of Acast’s global podcasts can be discovered and bought by advertisers on the platform. Within the first year of launching the platform, we expanded to include not only dynamically inserted ads, but also host-read content. Since that expansion, nearly 40% of podcasters who have been requested to work with had never previously worked with advertisers before."
We then asked: "Where does Molly DeMellier see herself in ten years?
"I do still see myself working in media and possibly owning my own business one day. Growing up in the home of a business owner I think instilled a curiosity about entrepreneurship in me," Molly responds.
Then she adds: "Wherever I am, I see myself most clearly as a working mother. While I don’t yet have children of my own, I am an aunt and godmother and it’s important to me to become an example for the next generation of what women can achieve. We live in a world with a widening gender pay gap, with recent 2024 reports showing that women make 83 cents on the dollar to their male counterparts. For young girls to truly believe that they are equal, they need to see female role models in the arena alongside men in positions of power."
Molly then speaks passionately about greater opportunities for women: "One of my longer goals is to create a scholarship for college-bound girls entering the media landscape to help alleviate the burdens of a high cost education system and to set them up for financial success as they enter the workforce."
At Ear Worthy, we believe that people are not defined by what they do for work but also by their passions for play and relaxation. We asked Molly about her hobbies, passions, comfort things?
Molly answers: "When I’m not at Acast, you can find me at the gym. I’m still an avid runner and often compete in long distance races with a twisted love for marathons and half marathons. When I’m not in a race training season, I’m focused on strength and flexibility with lifting and yoga. I’ve recently become a hiker and now a few times a year climb mountains around the world with my older brother. Two of my favorites were trips through Death Valley National Park and the Austrian Alps."
Molly admits that as the daughter of a travel agent, she's also plagued with a sense of wanderlust and can often be found stamping her passport to experience a different culture in some new corner of the world.
Molly ends with: "But my favorite place will always be the old Christmas tree farm where my parents’ still own our family home. When I can sneak away from the city for a weekend in the summer, my Dad and I can be found in the early morning hours sitting on the back deck with our first cup of coffee as my nephews watch their morning cartoons and before the rest of the family wakes up. Unplugged from the outside world, we talk together as the sun rises in the summer sky."
Molly credits her mother for her educational success by working and studying hard.
Molly says: "My mom was an elementary school teacher and is to credit for my education. She had high expectations for all of us and knew when we were applying ourselves and when we were just coasting. The rule in our house was that we were allowed to play sports if we had a 90 average or above in school."
Thinking of college, Molly recounts: "When it came to college, my siblings had once again left big shoes to fill. My older sister was in law school and on her way to becoming the youngest assistant district attorney in our neighboring county. My brother had graduated as his class valedictorian and became one of a select few from our area to go Ivy League, where he majored in mechanical and aeronautical engineering."
Molly ventured to Vermont to attend Castleton State College, where she was recruited to play basketball and would later walk on to the Women’s Cross Country team. Her passion for writing led her to major in journalism and she quickly found my place within our school newspaper, The Spartan, and spent two years as the managing editor.
Molly goes on to explain: "Though I was a writer at heart and devoured the works of Allen Ginsburg and TS Eliot, my curiosity for business wasn’t satisfied in journalism. I discovered public relations (PR) as the intersection of writing and business. I completed my undergraduate degree a semester early and applied to one graduate school: NYU School of Professional Studies – the best program in the country for PR. I was accepted and in the blink of an eye went from my sleepy college town in Vermont to bustling Manhattan."
Her first PR position out of graduate school was with a mid-sized agency called LaunchSquad. It was at LaunchSquad that she discovered her interest in companies that sit at the intersection of entertainment and technology.
Molly observes: "I was exposed to some of the most well-known brands in entertainment like Netflix, the iHeartPodcast Network, and Getty Images. At this very early stage of my career, I worked on news with major celebrity talent including Will Ferrell, Shonda Rhimes, and Jimmy Fallon. For Netflix, I was on the research and development team for a new product that eventually became the “Top 10” list that the platform is known for today and helped the team bring it to market."
At the time, Molly was living in a tiny apartment with a few up and coming standup comedians. She became close to comedian Erica Spera, and they decided to start their own podcast together called Shooters Gotta Shoot. As two former collegiate basketball players trying to navigate early adulthood in New York, they talked about dating and relationships and particularly the challenges and pressures on women today.
Molly says: "From a business and content creation standpoint I became enamored with podcasting. When a PR Manager role opened at a little Swedish company called Acast, I jumped at the opportunity. Nearly four years later, I now oversee our marketing and PR efforts for all of the U.S."
Molly admits that she's been a podcast fan for a long time.
Molly says: "As Erica and I were building Shooters Gotta Shoot, I often listened to other shows in our genre like UUp?, JTrain, and Girls Gotta Eat. I soon found myself deeply immersed in the world of true-crime with shows like Morbid, Crime Junkie, Dark Downeast, and Very Scary People. Today, I’m still a true-crime fanatic and also an avid listener of Armchair Expert."
Molly answers: "We do this in a few ways. We work with partners at Spotify and Apple to include relevant new content in their ‘New & Noteworthy’ sections to spotlight recently released shows. For newly released content, we conduct PR campaigns to grow awareness of the show. We also coordinate guest appearances for podcasters within our own network and run in house ads of our shows across the network to expose talent to new audiences."
Molly also insists that Acast sees indie podcasters as collaborators.
Molly notes: "While indie podcasters typically draw a smaller audience compared to major shows on the top ranking charts, the majority of listeners do tune in to indie shows. In fact according to Acast’s Podcast Pulse report, 80% of listeners tune in to niche podcasts with content made for people with specific interests. Among these niche podcast listeners specifically, 94% have taken action after hearing a podcast ad – proving the value of this content for brands and media buyers."
Molly continues: "When it comes to video specifically, our recent Podcast Pulse report found that 77% of podcast listeners have watched a video version of a podcast and 72% of podcast listeners say they will consider brands advertised by podcasters on YouTube."
Molly observes: "The power of podcasting has always been in the unique connection between the host and their audience. Visual components, like video and social media platforms, add to that feeling of connection for many listeners. In fact, nearly 50% of podcast listeners say they feel more engaged with podcast hosts they see or hear outside of the show."
One of our most critical questions to Molly was about what Acast can do to better support indie podcasters.
Molly answers: "One of the most significant ways that Acast supports indie podcasters is by ensuring they have opportunities to monetize their work through our self-serve advertising platform. All 140,000 of Acast’s global podcasts can be discovered and bought by advertisers on the platform. Within the first year of launching the platform, we expanded to include not only dynamically inserted ads, but also host-read content. Since that expansion, nearly 40% of podcasters who have been requested to work with had never previously worked with advertisers before."
We then asked: "Where does Molly DeMellier see herself in ten years?
"I do still see myself working in media and possibly owning my own business one day. Growing up in the home of a business owner I think instilled a curiosity about entrepreneurship in me," Molly responds.
Then she adds: "Wherever I am, I see myself most clearly as a working mother. While I don’t yet have children of my own, I am an aunt and godmother and it’s important to me to become an example for the next generation of what women can achieve. We live in a world with a widening gender pay gap, with recent 2024 reports showing that women make 83 cents on the dollar to their male counterparts. For young girls to truly believe that they are equal, they need to see female role models in the arena alongside men in positions of power."
Molly then speaks passionately about greater opportunities for women: "One of my longer goals is to create a scholarship for college-bound girls entering the media landscape to help alleviate the burdens of a high cost education system and to set them up for financial success as they enter the workforce."
At Ear Worthy, we believe that people are not defined by what they do for work but also by their passions for play and relaxation. We asked Molly about her hobbies, passions, comfort things?
Molly answers: "When I’m not at Acast, you can find me at the gym. I’m still an avid runner and often compete in long distance races with a twisted love for marathons and half marathons. When I’m not in a race training season, I’m focused on strength and flexibility with lifting and yoga. I’ve recently become a hiker and now a few times a year climb mountains around the world with my older brother. Two of my favorites were trips through Death Valley National Park and the Austrian Alps."
Molly ends with: "But my favorite place will always be the old Christmas tree farm where my parents’ still own our family home. When I can sneak away from the city for a weekend in the summer, my Dad and I can be found in the early morning hours sitting on the back deck with our first cup of coffee as my nephews watch their morning cartoons and before the rest of the family wakes up. Unplugged from the outside world, we talk together as the sun rises in the summer sky."
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