Joe Rogan, Spotify Reach New $250M Deal

Facts

• Streaming platform Spotify has signed a multi-year contract with Joe Rogan, the host of 'The Joe Rogan Experience' (JRE) podcast. The deal — estimated to be worth upwards of $250M — includes a guaranteed upfront payment, ad revenue sharing, and allows the podcast to be broadcast on other platforms like YouTube.¹
• Spotify's first contract with Rogan — signed in 2020 and reportedly valued at over $200M — made the podcast a Spotify exclusive, as JRE has remained the number one podcast on the platform. Spotify has spent over $1B on podcast endeavors, including contracts with Kim Kardashian and the Obamas.²
• JRE draws an estimated 11M viewers per episode. Prior to this news, some had speculated that Rogan would part ways with Spotify and choose to stream on X, formerly Twitter, or create his own media company.³
• Since launching JRE 15 years ago, Rogan has recorded more than 2.2K episodes of the podcast. In 2022, Rogan received backlash due to his promotion of the drug ivermectin and opposition to mask and vaccine mandates. Spotify added COVID information tabs to episodes that discussed the virus.⁴
• Spotify has come to outperform Apple as the world's largest broadcaster of podcasts — it brought in over 226M paying subscribers last year, now valued at $40B. Reports suggest the platform is currently seeking new deals with a focus on scrapping exclusivity rights and prioritizing ad revenue sharing.⁵

Sources: ¹wsj.com, ²New York Times, ³New York Post, ⁴Daily Wire and ⁵NBC.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by Business Insider. Unfortunately, Spotify has become reliant on conspiracy theory-loving Joe Rogan to keep its podcasting business alive. As the company narrows its list of podcast deals to a few big names, it's clearly looking to ride the wave of ad-based revenue no matter who's bringing it in. While some of the artists who left Spotify in protest have chosen principle over money, it seems Spotify itself is acting out of corporate greed.
• Right narrative, as provided by Townhall. Joe Rogan has remained his normal, liberal self throughout his entire podcasting career — it's the left that has moved further and further away from reality. The reason Rogan has faced such high-profile 'scandals' isn't because he's far-right, but because he refuses to comply with woke America. The Joe Rogan Experience offers what the leftists hate: an honest, open forum full of diverse ideas — something too good for Spotify to pass up on.