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 big names, like Neil Younger, to pull their catalogs from the streaming service. Regardless, the present remained common 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 announced a brand new, multiyear settlement with Rogan, estimated at $250 million over its time period, in accordance with The Wall Road Journal.
The deal will supply Rogan a minimal assure upfront together with a reduce of the advert gross sales, the Journal mentioned. (Spotify advised us the quantity being reported is wrong, nevertheless.)
Critically, Rogan’s present will not be unique to Spotify.
Rogan’s take care of Spotify took place at a time when the corporate’s technique was targeted on constructing a set of unique and authentic applications 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 12 months. Spotify’s head of its podcast enterprise, Dawn Ostroff, resigned, and the corporate conducted layoffs. Underneath Ostroff’s lead, Spotify had snatched up studios like Parcast, The Ringer and Gimlet Media, and signed unique offers with Rogan, Alex Cooper (“Call Her Daddy”) and Dax Shepard.
This week, information broke that Cooper’s present would no longer be limited 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 12 months’s information that Gimlet would expand its shows to other platforms. Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” and “anything 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 usually flip a revenue, having reported its first quarterly profit in a 12 months and a half again in October. By making the previous exclusives accessible throughout extra platforms, Spotify may have the flexibility to develop the advert {dollars} these reveals ship. Which will now be extra fascinating than retaining them locked up as an incentive for brand spanking new subscribers.
It may 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 include content advisories, however finally the artist departures, the #cancelspotify marketing campaign and the unfavorable headlines didn’t impact Spotify’s paid subscriber numbers on the time, nor give a boost to Spotify’s streaming rivals.
“JRE remains podcasting’s king, consistently ranking as the most-listened-to podcast globally and our users have ranked the show as Spotify’s Wrapped top podcast each year since 2020,” famous Spotify in at present’s blog post. The corporate mentioned JRE now has greater than 2,200 episodes accessible, and that the podcast is the No. 2 most-listened-to present for ladies over 13 within the U.S., per Edison, in addition to the No. 1 show overall 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.
