Joe Rogan Experience to move exclusively to Spotify with deal reportedly worth over $100 million

Podcasts are the way of the future, at least according to Spotify. When the Swedish streaming giant’s CEO, Daniel Ek, invested over $300 million in exclusive podcast content last year, he was attempting to place Spotify at the forefront of Podcast content. When the company saw their Q4 revenue grow by 28 percent following the move, it was a clear step in the right direction. Even at CE, we’ve launched our Wide Awake Radio with exclusive podcast content on Spotify, along other digital service providers (DSPs), and have seen exponential growth.

Now Spotify has made the boldest of moves in their ongoing quest to become the kingpin of podcasting. The company has thrown Joe Rogan a deal which is being reported by the Wall Street Journal to be worth over $100 million. The actor, comedian, and MMA host has long been one of the most visible podcast hosts of our generation on his wildly-popular show, the Joe Rogan Experience. The podcast has hosted a wealth of prominent guests to date, including Elon Musk, Edward Snowden, Steven Tyler, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and many more.

For the past couple years, though, YouTube and Apple Music have been the main homesteads of the show as Rogan has generated largely advertising and streaming revenue. Forbes even reported the show as making upwards of $30 million in revenue with the show being downloaded 190 million times per year. The newly-inked deal with Spotify moves the podcast exclusively to the increasingly diverse streaming platform. 

For those worried that the deal with Spotify might stifle the unbridled and unfiltered commentary of the show, Joe Rogan states, “They want me to just continue doing it the way I’m doing it right now… It’s just a licensing deal, so Spotify won’t have any creative control over the show.”

The move will take effect on September 1, with over a thousand Joe Rogan podcasts will land exclusively on Spotify. Both the audio and video of these episodes will become unavailable on YouTube and Apple Podcasts later this year. Small segments will still be posted to YouTube with full episodes available only on Spotify.