Controversy and PR headaches weren’t enough to keep Spotify from renewing its deal with podcaster Joe Rogan, whose show for the past two years has caused divisions among musicians and artists. produced some big names, like Neil Young, to pull their catalogs from the streaming service. Regardless, the show has remained popular enough to earn the top spot as users’ most-listened-to podcast every year since it came to Spotify in 2020. Now, Spotify’s relationship with the podcaster continues, as the company was announced a new, multi-year deal with Rogan, estimated at $250 million during his tenure, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The deal will offer Rogan a minimal upfront guarantee along with a cut of ad sales, the Journal reported. (Spotify told us the number listed is incorrect.)
Crucially, Rogan’s show will no longer be exclusive to Spotify.
Rogan’s deal with Spotify comes at a time when the company’s strategy has focused on creating a set of exclusive and original programming to make its service more competitive with Apple Podcasts and others. The company poured billions into building its podcast business, investing in studios and IP acquisitions, as well as new technologies, including ad tech, before changing course last year. The head of Spotify’s podcast business, Dawn Ostroff, resigned, and the company conducted layoffs. Under Ostroff’s leadership, Spotify had snapped up studios like Parcast, The Ringer and Gimlet Media and signed exclusive deals with Rogan, Alex Cooper (“Call Her Daddy”) and Dax Shepard.
This week, news broke that Cooper’s show it would no longer be limited to Spotify, and would be released on other audio platforms, such as Apple. The video of the show, however, would remain on Spotify. The move follows others that have seen Spotify loosen its grip on exclusives, such as last year’s news that Gimlet would expands its broadcasts to other platforms. Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” and “anything goes with Emma Chamberlain” were also released more widely, leaving Rogan’s show as a Spotify exclusive. And now it’s gone.
Spotify’s change in direction comes as the company continues to struggle to turn a regular profit, having presented its first quarterly earnings in a year and a half in October. By making previous exclusives available on more platforms, Spotify will be able to increase the ad dollars these shows offer. This may now be more desirable than keeping them locked as an incentive for new subscribers.
It could also take some of the heat off Spotify when Rogan ventures into controversial territory. In 2022, the streamer faced backlash after Rogan was accused of using his platform to spread misinformation. This led Spotify to adjust its policies and include content advisories, but eventually the artist left, the #cancelspotify campaign and negative headlines didn’t affect Spotify’s paid subscriber numbers at the time, nor did it boost its streaming competitors Spotify.
“JRE remains the king of podcasting, consistently ranking as the most-listened-to podcast worldwide, and our users have ranked the show as Spotify Wrapped’s top podcast every year since 2020,” Spotify noted in today’s suspension. The company said JRE now has more than 2,200 episodes available, and the podcast is the No. 2 most-listened-to podcast for U.S. females 13+, per EdisonAs well as No. 1 overall appearance from Q3 2023.
Since joining Spotify, total podcast consumption increased by 232% and ad revenue increased by 80% from 2021 to 2023. JRE ad revenue increased by 45% in 2023.
Updated, 2/2/24, 2:10 p.m. ET Updated to note that Spotify disputes the number shared by the magazine. However, he declined to comment on the terms of the deal.
