Spotify reportedly paid a minimum of $200 million to bring the 'The Joe Rogan Experience' and the eponymous host to its platform, roughly double the price initially thought. Spotify’s podcast ambitions are no secret, but it truly made a splash when it announced in May 2020 that it had inked a multi-year exclusive licensing deal with Rogan. Back then, the deal was reported to be worth over $100 million, which continues to be one of the biggest podcast deals of its kind to date.
Rogan is the biggest name in the podcasting industry, and as per Nielsen's 2021 Q3 Media Ratings, Rogan's podcast brings in an average audience of 11 million listeners per episode. Interestingly, Spotify didn’t push Rogan’s wildly popular show behind a paywall, hosting both the audio and video version on its platform. Spotify has praised Rogan and the show in the past, noting in April last year that the podcast had “performed above expectations.”
It appears that the bid to land Rogan was twice as expensive than previously reported. According to The New York Times, Spotify paid “at least $200 million” for the three-and-a-half-year exclusive platform partnership. The amount may have been even higher, says the report, citing sources familiar with developments. For that hefty sum of money, Spotify ported over the entire library of Rogan’s podcast to its streaming platform, even though some of them have now been removed. The deal appears to have worked for Spotify as it locks horns with names like Google, Apple, and Amazon to lead the lucrative podcast market, and all the revenue that comes with it.
Rogan Is Controversial, And Spotify Is Okay With That
Lately, things have been less than favorable for both parties. Rogan recently invited Dr. Robert Malone, a controversial virologist, on to the show, resulting in an anti-vaccine controversy. Rogan himself was embroiled in a similar situation last year after making contentious vaccine-related comments. Malone’s statements prompted a global community of healthcare professionals and academics to write an open letter, asking Spotify to put in place content policies to curb the spread of hazardous misinformation. In protest, musicians like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and Graham Nash, among others, announced that they were pulling their music from the platform.
It was a lot of bad press for the company, and many users started pondering a switch from Spotify to another platform. Meanwhile, a compilation video of Rogan using racial slurs over the years also made waves online. Rogan eventually apologized, but Spotify and its CEO Daniel Ek stood by Rogan. “I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer,” Ek wrote in an internal memo that was obtained by The New York Times. In the wake of the furor, Spotify said it had removed problematic episodes from its library, and that it will start adding advisories to content on its platform. Rogan is a hot property for Spotify, and it's unlikely that the company will part ways with him, especially after reportedly dropping $200 million to attract Rogan's large audience and boost its own podcast endeavors.