At a time when everyone and mother seem to have their own podcast, ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ has continued to distinguish itself from thousands of competing shows.
Now, news has it that its host Joe Rogan is in talks with Spotify to make his hugely popular podcast exclusive to the audio streaming platform.
In-Demand Podcast
Starting this coming September, fans of ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ would have to tune in to Spotify for the podcast’s latest episodes. This would certainly be a big change considering that people were used to logging onto YouTube or iTunes to watch or listen to the show.
The move also means that Rogan’s library of over 1,400 episodes, accumulated over its 11-year run, would be transferred over to Spotify.
Despite this though, Rogan would retain control over the show and its content.
Lucrative Licensing Deal
Multiple news publications have reported that the licensing deal between Rogan and Spotify is worth $100 million if not more. The exact amount of money on the table remains unconfirmed and would depend on how many years the podcast host licensed his work to the streaming platform.
One thing’s for sure though, Rogan is taking a big risk with the decision. After all, he’s already pulling in a reported $20 million to $30 million in annual ad revenues just by having his podcast episodes uploaded to YouTube.
In comparison, Bill Simmons’ The Ringer podcast network was acquired by Spotify for $200 million and was only bringing in half of what Rogan’s podcast was earning. Of course, the main difference between the deals is that ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ wouldn’t be owned by Spotify at the end of the day.
End of an Era
While $100 million is definitely a hard offer to turn away, it does come with a catch.
Rogan may want to think long and hard about the potential consequences of his decision. Moving his content library to one place for a couple of years might just cost him the support of many fans.
After all, not everyone would be willing to download another app just to tune in to the podcast. There’s also the fact that it was Rogan’s accessibility and open-mindedness that made him and his show so popular in the first place.
Not to mention, Spotify doesn’t really universally support videos for all users on its platform yet. This would likely turn the consumption of ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ into a purely auditory one.