Joe Rogan's podcast is set to branch out to new platforms
Spotify just gave its podcasting game plan a competitive edge.
Spotify is putting down big money to broaden its audience, and it's counting on one of its top podcasters, Joe Rogan, to do it. The audio streaming platform has managed to sign a new multi-year deal with Rogan, worth over $250 million, to have the podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” spread across multiple platforms beyond just Spotify, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
“There’s so much more ahead, including that the show will soon be available on additional platforms,” said Spotify in a news release. “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.”
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“The Joe Rogan Experience” started in 2009, and became exclusive to Spotify in 2020 for a payout estimated to be between $180 million to $220 million, according to the Journal.
The move from Spotify comes after it was reported last month that the audio streaming service has lost money in its $1 billion investment into podcasting, even though it inked deals with celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, etc.
In 2023, Spotify began to double down on its efforts to grow its investment in podcasting. In its second round of layoffs in June last year, Spotify reduced its headcount of employees by 2%, which is 200 people, in its “global podcast vertical and other functions” to focus on expanding its partnership with creators.
“We are expanding our partnership efforts with leading podcasters from across the globe with a tailored approach optimized for each show and creator. This fundamental pivot from a more uniform proposition will allow us to support the creator community better. However, doing so requires adapting,” said Spotify CEO Daniel Ek in an update on the company’s organizational changes.
After vowing in 2022 that the company will make podcasting profitable within one to two years, Spotify Chief Financial Officer Paul Vogel claimed in an Oct. 24 earnings call last year that Spotify is “in line” with that timeline.
“We’re right in line with that timeline,” Vogel said during the earnings call. “We should actually get to break-even in podcasting pretty soon. And we feel really good about the trajectory of the podcasting trends having gone from a pretty big drag a year ago, to something that’s a pretty minimal drag to something that should be positive to gross profit in a pretty short term.”
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