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Monday, February 5, 2024

Spotify’s Exclusive Big-Name Podcasting Era Is Done


Podcaster Joe Rogan signed a new multiyear deal with audio giant Spotify that will make his popular podcast available on multiple platforms and no longer exclusive to the Swedish streaming service, The L-A Times is reporting.

The deal, which could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, signals a shift in Spotify’s strategy away from being the home of exclusive podcasts to becoming an audio company that structures deals based on wide distribution and ad revenue sharing.

Spotify on Friday said that overall podcast consumption on its platform has risen 232% and that in turn has drawn “a wide array of advertisers” since Rogan’s podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” joined its platform exclusively in 2020.

The often-controversial “Joe Rogan Experience” was the last major podcast to remain exclusive on Spotify. The company plans to distribute Rogan’s podcast widely on other platforms including YouTube, Apple and Amazon.

Rogan’s podcast began in 2009 and has more than 2,200 episodes that are two to three hours in length on average, Spotify said.

The podcast ad market has grown significantly since Spotify first started making exclusive podcast deals. Back in 2020, when Spotify made its first deal with Rogan, the podcast ad revenue market in the U.S. was just $842 million, according to a report by IAB and PwC. That’s now expected to grow to about $4 billion in 2025, according to the report.

Spotify was instrumental in bringing increased investment to the podcast industry after it purchased podcast companies Gimlet, Parcast and the Ringer. The streaming service, once known mainly for music, repositioned itself as an audio business, with podcasts being a key part.

In addition to its acquisitions, the company made deals with prominent Hollywood talent and newsmakers, including the production companies for the Obamas and Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. Some of those deals were not renewed, while others like Rogan’s podcast generated both huge popularity and controversy.

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