Acast Poaches TikTok's Liv Sandberg to Lead a Unified Europe
Podcast company Acast has hired TikTok's Liv Sandberg to run a newly unified European business, a sign of how seriously audio is now competing for the ad budgets that once flowed automatically to social.
The Move
Acast has appointed Liv Sandberg from TikTok as EVP, Europe, consolidating its Nordic and wider European operations under a single regional leader for the first time. She starts in early 2027 and reports to chief executive Greg Glenday, with the company's market leads now reporting up to her.
Sandberg spent nearly six years at TikTok, latterly as a regional general manager for Global Business Solutions across Central Europe and the Nordics, covering 17 markets. She succeeds departing managing director Jenny Rahm.
Why It Matters
The direction of the move tells the story. A senior operator from the fastest-growing social ad platform is choosing podcasting, and that only makes sense if the money is following. Acast reported 25% year-on-year European net sales growth in Q2 2026 and connects more than 140,000 creators with over 4,000 advertisers.
Audio has quietly matured from a hard-to-measure experiment into a planned, accountable channel. Host-read podcast ads carry unusually high trust and attention, and improving measurement is closing the gap that once kept audio out of the core media plan.
Marketing Minute's Take
We would read this as a nudge to treat podcasts and creator audio as a line item, not an afterthought. The medium's strength is intimacy: a trusted host in someone's ears for 40 minutes is a very different proposition to a skippable feed video.
For advertisers, the practical play is to test host-read and branded-podcast formats against your social benchmarks now, while the channel is still under-bought relative to its attention. Bring the same discipline you apply to social - clear briefs, tracking, and creative built for the medium rather than repurposed radio scripts.
Quick FAQ
Who is Acast's new Europe boss?
Liv Sandberg, who joins from TikTok, has been appointed EVP, Europe, unifying Acast's Nordic and European operations under one regional leader from early 2027.
Why is a TikTok executive moving into podcasting?
It signals that ad budgets are shifting toward audio. Acast grew European net sales 25% year on year in Q2 2026 and links 140,000-plus creators with over 4,000 advertisers.
Are podcast ads worth it for brands?
Host-read podcast ads deliver high trust and attention, and improving measurement makes them increasingly accountable, so they are worth testing against social benchmarks.
When the people who built social's ad machine start moving into audio, pay attention - talent follows budgets. Podcasts give you something feeds cannot: a trusted voice in someone's ears for half an hour. Test it now, while it is still cheaper than the attention it delivers. - Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
Audio has grown up into an accountable, high-attention channel - treat podcasts as a planned line item, not a nice-to-have, before the price catches up with the attention.
When did you last test host-read podcast ads against your social media benchmarks?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: Campaign, Podnews, Podcasting Today.
Related reading
Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
Comments