AUSTIN, TEXAS: Joe Rogan is one of the most well-known podcasters in the world. His 'The Joe Rogan Experience' inspired several content creators to give podcasting a shot. The UFC color commentator's massive number of views and popularity even attracted Spotify.
Initially, complete episodes of Rogan's podcast were released to YouTube, but he then inked an exclusive 3.5-year deal with Spotify, reportedly worth $200 million. The agreement was signed back in 2020, and as 2023 draws to a close, there are now only a few months remaining until it expires.
Will Spotify renew 'JRE' contract?
With 11 million monthly listeners, 'The Joe Rogan Experience' is the most popular and lucrative podcast on the network. Daniel Ek, the CEO and co-founder of Spotify, recently assured investors that he would not overpay for or overinvest in podcasts because that would require spending $1 billion, according to Sportskeeda.
Spotify also disclosed a $248 million loss in the first quarter of 2023. Even worse, the platform's CCO, Dawn Ostroff, who oversaw its strategy for podcast deals, has left the company. In a similar vein, Courtney Holt, who was crucial in arranging the agreement with Rogan, is no longer employed by Spotify.
However, Daniel Ek mentioned during Spotify's second-quarter earnings call that he had access to more data than in previous years, allowing him to identify which podcasts were financially beneficial and which weren't.
While he acknowledged that some podcasts might be retained, some wouldn't. Although Rogan was not specifically mentioned, it is important to remember that Spotify just inked a prominent contract with Trevor Noah that did not include an exclusivity restriction.
Given that Rogan has a considerably higher profile than Noah does in the podcasting community, it is highly probable that the 'JRE' will remain.
Most watched episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience'
The Joe Rogan-hosted podcast is renowned for including a variety of guests from a range of backgrounds. He interviews fighters on occasion, which sometimes leads to infamous occurrences like him telling former BMF champion Jorge Masvidal that UFC legend Georges St-Pierre might have been bothered by him. However, other cases have drawn more notice.
The podcast's #1169 episode, which included the viral video of Elon Musk smoking marijuana, has garnered the most attention so far. The CEO of SpaceX has since made appearances in further episodes of the podcast and even toyed with the idea of breaking into the combat sports community, where Rogan is well-known.
An X (formerly Twitter) user shared a clip of the episode saying, "Joe Rogan And Elon Musk On Cars #jre #joerogan #funny #comedy #history"
