I'm no expert, but one observation I had is podcasts seem to follow this model. Most podcast ads I hear are read by the hosts themselves, though a small number splice in targeted advertiser-provided audio (eg a UK soccer podcast will play me local Canadian ads).
For the podcasts that follow the former model, they don't seem to rely on timeslots (i.e. payment just for ad being shown), though some may be involved. Instead, it seems they rely on coupon codes to measure conversions. I assume the podcast gets paid per coupon code redeemed. Barring show sponsors, in my experience ever single podcast ad read by a host will use a coupon code.
Spotify will be inserting targeted ads into their podcast streams, if they haven't started already. Something to keep in mind for anyone who was thinking of listening to podcasts on Spotify.
One product idea (that I'm freely giving away here because it's a little too evil for me) is to use neural style transfer to seamlessly and automatically inject corporate-themed jingles seamlessly into the middle of popular music tracks.
Say someone's listening to WAP on the free version of Spotify, Their ad tracking indicates that they've had recent searches for life insurance. The algorithm would then inject a Cardi B sounding rap lyric about how bomb Northwest Mutual's whole life product line is.
Yup! Dynamic Ad Insertion is gaining a bit of momentum nowadays. It's terrible if you're trying to keep note of a timestamp. An ad that was served to you one day that was 30sec can be served to you next weekend for 45sec, which would shift a lot of audio.
Not positive, but since they don't say for free users only I'm assuming it's everybody. Mainly for their own exclusive "podcasts" but available for other networks to use also. I get the impression these take the place of the traditional "host reads a sponsor message" time slot.
For the podcasts that follow the former model, they don't seem to rely on timeslots (i.e. payment just for ad being shown), though some may be involved. Instead, it seems they rely on coupon codes to measure conversions. I assume the podcast gets paid per coupon code redeemed. Barring show sponsors, in my experience ever single podcast ad read by a host will use a coupon code.