What's Behind the Branded Podcasts That Don't Sound Like Ads Companies looking for branded podcasts go to Pacific Content.

Podcasts will attract 98 million sets of ears this year -- double the number from 2009. But their ads are supereasy to skip. Four ex-radio producers formed Pacific Content to fix that problem: They create branded podcasts for companies such as Slack and Shopify, which are so good that listeners won't treat them like ads. Its founders explain how:

Steve Pratt: "The future of the media business is teaching brands to act more like media companies. When Serial came out in 2014 and podcasting rose, we realized there's a massive market void in branded content."

Jennifer Ouano: "We needed brands that were willing to take a risk and that wouldn't expect people to sign up for their service the minute they heard the podcast. It would be a first touch of the brand and would be about telling compelling stories."