Tjaldur - Podcast Hosting, Dynamic Ads and Creator Payouts Platform
Creator Studio for an Icelandic Podcast Network
Designed and built a clickable creator studio for a Reykjavik network of independent podcasts: upload and process episodes, place mid-roll ad markers on the waveform, publish only when sponsor disclosure is in place, read downloads counted following IAB guidelines, and see earnings and payouts by source.
Most of our work is under NDA. Per agreement, we can share the work but not the company details - all names and identifying information shown here have been changed.
Impact
Studio home, episode list with quick view panel, episode editor, show analytics and earnings & payouts. Every one of the 36 demo episodes opens its own editor.
Audio ready, title, show notes, valid ad slot markers, sponsor disclosure when a sponsor read is attached, and art size. Publish now stays disabled until every check passes.
Known bots filtered, requests under 60 seconds of audio ignored and repeats within 24 hours counted once, under a versioned measurement config shown on the analytics page.
3 shows in Icelandic and English, 5 sponsor reads, 3 live campaigns, 90 days of daily downloads per show, 12 monthly statements and 6 payouts.
The Problem
Hraunvík Audio grew into a network of about 120 independent podcasts, each hosted wherever its creator had picked. The network could not insert ads or count downloads the same way across shows, sponsor scripts went out by email in the hope the read aired in the right week, advertisers got proof of delivery as screenshots from five dashboards, premium episodes leaked as unlisted links, and creators waited weeks for a quarterly spreadsheet to learn what they had earned.
Our Solution
Tjaldur puts the network's shows on one platform with a creator studio, listener pages and a network console sharing one backend. The build is the creator studio: episodes move from upload through a visible processing tracker to a publish card with a pre-publish checklist, ad slots sit on the waveform, analytics state how downloads are counted, and earnings break down by network ads, own sponsors and premium.
The Challenge: One Platform for 120 Independent Shows
A podcast network sells ads across shows it does not produce, pays creators a share of several revenue streams and answers for content it hosts, all under EEA data protection and Icelandic marketing and consumer rules.
Downloads Nobody Could Compare
Each host counted downloads its own way, so advertisers could not trust a network total. Counting has to follow the IAB Tech Lab guidelines in general terms: filter bots, ignore requests too small to be listening and count repeats once, without claiming certification the network does not have.
Ads That Must Read as Ads
Icelandic marketing law requires advertising to be recognisable as advertising. Every host read needs a spoken disclosure and a sponsor line in the show notes, and categories such as alcohol, gambling and tobacco are blocked by default.
Listener Data Under the GDPR
Iceland applies the GDPR through Act No. 90/2018. Listener IP addresses, user agents and subscriber accounts are personal data, so raw request logs can be kept only as long as counting needs them, and the web player sets no advertising cookies without consent.
Three Revenue Streams, One Payout
Creators earn 70% of network ad revenue, 90% of sponsor reads they sell themselves and 85% of premium after payment fees. Each month has to close into a statement per show, with payouts from ISK 10,000 and a hold when bank details change.
Our Approach: From Network Rules to a Clickable Studio
Spec and Rules Research
Mapped 11 roles from show owner and collaborator to ad operations, trust and safety, finance and listener, and 41 screens across the creator studio, network console and mobile-first listener pages. Defined the data model for shows, episodes, processing jobs, ad slots, sponsor reads, campaigns, feed tokens, download aggregates, policy cases, statements and payouts, and wrote down the rules the design follows: the GDPR and Act No. 90/2018, cookie consent, advertising disclosure, notice and takedown, IAB measurement guidelines, consumer purchase rules and Skatturinn tax settings.
Clickable Demo on a Production UI Kit
Built the creator studio's 5 key screens on a production dashboard kit: studio home with KPI cards, to do list and upcoming releases and campaigns; the episode list with status pills, filters, bulk actions and a quick view panel; the episode editor with a 5-step processing tracker, waveform with draggable mid-roll markers, ad slot panel and sticky publish card; show analytics with the counting rules; and earnings with statements, payouts and masked payout details. A show switcher in the top bar filters home, episodes and analytics.
What a Production Build Adds
Audio storage and delivery on a CDN, FFmpeg processing workers, machine transcription with Icelandic tested, dynamic ad stitching, directory submission to Apple Podcasts, Spotify and others, Stripe or Rapyd for premium, Icelandic bank payment files and Wise for payouts, and MaxMind geolocation. Creator and staff auth with roles, an audit log of every takedown, payout and price change, the network console and the listener pages.
Why It Works: Every Rule Visible to the Creator
Processing Problems Say What to Do
Each episode shows its upload, analyse, normalise, encode and transcribe steps with times and warnings such as long silences or limited peaks. A failed step names the fault and the fix, for example re-export the file and replace audio, which keeps the episode id and feed GUID.
Disclosure Before Publish
When a sponsor read is attached, the publish card checks that the show notes carry the sponsor disclosure. Until they do, Publish now stays disabled and the missing item is marked in red.
Numbers That Explain Themselves
Analytics state that downloads are counted following IAB Tech Lab guidelines, link to the counting rules, label unique listeners as estimated, and compare each episode at 1, 7, 30 and 90 days with the show's median.
Earnings Split by Source
The balance card shows available and pending amounts, the next payout date and the ISK 10,000 threshold. Monthly earnings stack network ads, own sponsors and premium, final statements are locked, and changing bank details asks for re-authentication and holds the next payout for 48 hours.
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Enterprise Software Engineering - Human + AI
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Enterprise Software Engineering - Human + AI
Contact Us
Locations
Global Headquarters
21 Merchant Road, 3rd Floor, Singapore 058267
Main corporate office and leadership operations
North America Office
548 Market Street, PMB 12345, San Francisco, CA 94104
Client operations and business development
India Office
402 Shivalik Shilp II, SG Highway, Ahmedabad 380015
Engineering and delivery center
© 2026 - Copyright. All Rights reserved Oceanlab