Spotify And Joe Rogan Extend Multi-Year Agreement To Move Ad Revenue

Spotify announced a new deal with comedian and podcast maker Joe Rogan (photo: x @joerogan)

JAKARTA - Spotify Technology SA announced a new multi-year deal with comedian and podcast maker Joe Rogan on Friday, February 2 in a bid to capitalize on the popularity of the show to boost its advertising revenue.

The "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, which debuted in 2009, has been an exclusive offering on music streaming platforms since 2020, with the company lauding it as the most listened to podcast globally.

Spotify also said it would soon make Joe Rogan's show available on other platforms such as Apple, Amazon, and YouTube.

Joe Rogan has interviewed well-known politicians, entrepreneurs and celebrities including film director Andrea Tarantino, singer Miley Cyrus, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on his podcast.

Sweden-based Spotify focuses on increasing ad revenue on its platform with the help of ad markets for podcast publishers and creators - Spotify Audience Network.

"Since podcasts became exclusive to Spotify, podcast consumption as a whole on the platform has increased by 232%," the company said, adding that its revenue last year increased 80% compared to 2021.

The multi-year deal with Rogan, which is estimated to be worth up to $250 million, involved an initial minimum guarantee, plus a revenue-sharing deal based on advertising sales, the Wall Street Journal reported last Friday.

The company declined to comment on the terms of the deal but in an emailed response said the estimated value of the deal mentioned in the WSJ report was wrong.

Spotify first added podcasts in 2015 and made a massive push into the medium starting in 2019, by buying the podcast network Gimlet Media and Anchor FM and signing an exclusive deal with reality TV star Kim Kardashian and former US President Barack Obama.