Controversies and PR complications weren’t sufficient to dissuade Spotify from re-upping its settlement with podcaster Joe Rogan, whose present over the previous couple of years drove divisions amongst music followers and artists alike and even prompted some huge names, like Neil Younger, to pull their catalogs from the streaming service. Regardless, the present remained well-liked sufficient to earn the highest spot as customers’ most-listened-to podcast yearly since coming to Spotify in 2020. Now, Spotify’s relationship with the podcaster continues, as the corporate introduced a brand new, multiyear settlement with Rogan, estimated at $250 million over its time period, in keeping with The Wall Avenue Journal.
The deal will provide Rogan a minimal assure upfront together with a reduce of the advert gross sales, the Journal mentioned. (Spotify instructed us the quantity being reported is inaccurate, nevertheless.)
Critically, Rogan’s present will now not be unique to Spotify.
Rogan’s take care of Spotify happened at a time when the corporate’s technique was targeted on constructing a set of unique and authentic packages to make its service extra aggressive with Apple Podcasts and others. The corporate invested billions to construct its podcast enterprise, investing in studio and IP acquisitions in addition to new applied sciences, together with advert tech, earlier than shifting course final yr. Spotify’s head of its podcast enterprise, Daybreak Ostroff, resigned, and the corporate carried out layoffs. Beneath Ostroff’s lead, Spotify had snatched up studios like Parcast, The Ringer and Gimlet Media, and signed unique offers with Rogan, Alex Cooper (“Name Her Daddy”) and Dax Shepard.
This week, information broke that Cooper’s present would now not be restricted to Spotify, and would launch on different audio platforms, like Apple. Video of the present, nevertheless, would stay on Spotify. The transfer follows others that had seen Spotify loosening its grip on its exclusives, like final yr’s information that Gimlet would develop its exhibits to different platforms. Shepard’s “Armchair Professional” and “something goes with emma chamberlain” had additionally rolled out extra broadly, leaving Rogan’s present as Spotify’s remaining unique. And now it’s no extra.
Spotify’s change in route comes as the corporate continues to battle to repeatedly flip a revenue, having reported its first quarterly revenue in a yr and a half again in October. By making the previous exclusives obtainable throughout extra platforms, Spotify may have the power to develop the advert {dollars} these exhibits ship. That will now be extra fascinating than protecting them locked up as an incentive for brand spanking new subscribers.
It might additionally take a few of the warmth off Spotify when Rogan wades into controversial territory. In 2022, the streamer confronted backlash after Rogan was accused of utilizing his platform to unfold misinformation. That led Spotify to regulate its insurance policies and embrace content material advisories, however in the end the artist departures, the #cancelspotify marketing campaign and the detrimental headlines didn’t affect Spotify’s paid subscriber numbers on the time, nor make stronger Spotify’s streaming rivals.
“JRE stays podcasting’s king, persistently rating because the most-listened-to podcast globally and our customers have ranked the present as Spotify’s Wrapped high podcast annually since 2020,” famous Spotify in at this time’s weblog submit. The corporate mentioned JRE now has greater than 2,200 episodes obtainable, and that the podcast is the No. 2 most-listened-to present for girls over 13 within the U.S., per Edison, in addition to the No. 1 present total as of Q3 2023.
Since becoming a member of Spotify, total podcast consumption has grown 232% and advert income grew 80% from 2021 to 2023. JRE advert income grew 45% in 2023.
Up to date, 2/2/24, 2:10 PM ET Up to date to notice that Spotify disputes the determine being shared by the Journal. Nonetheless, it declined to touch upon deal phrases.
