What's the difference between Dynamic and Baked-In SmartPromos?

Baked-in ads are referred to as such because the ad is a permanent part of the episode's audio file. These are sometimes called “embedded” or "evergreen" ads. A "feed drop," where an entire episode of a show is published on a different show's RSS feed, is usually considered a baked-in ad as well.

Chartable measures baked-in ads via the Trackable Prefix that is installed on that show’s RSS feed. You'll need to create a Baked-In SmartPromo for each episode that contains the promotion for your show.

Dynamic ads (also called “dynamic ad insertion (DAI)” or “dynamically inserted audio”) utilize programmatic advertising technology to selectively place your ad in episodes as they’re being downloaded or streamed.

Chartable measures dynamic ads by allowing the seller/publisher team to generate a tracking pixel, which is a bit of code that is delivered along with the ad by the publisher's Ad Ops team via their DAI platform. 

This pixel allows us to show you how many devices download an episode of your podcast after downloading the episode that contains the tracking pixel code that was delivered with the dynamically inserted audio. 

A tracking pixel can be used for any show, or on multiple shows, or a run of network campaign (as long as the hosting platform for the show supports dynamically inserted audio and tracking pixels).

If the publisher team you're working with asks for a tracking pixel for the promotion, that means you'll need to create a Dynamic SmartPromo. After you create the Dynamic SmartPromo, it will be assigned to their team for approval, and they'll be able to choose the type of tracking pixel they need for their dynamic audio insertion system.

To learn more about programmatic advertising for podcasts, please read this article from Sounds Profitable.