Joe Rogan renews deal with Spotify

Joe Rogan, podcasting’s biggest star, has renewed his deal with Spotify. The new multiyear deal will allow his show, which is currently exclusive to the streamer, to be distributed to YouTube, Apple, and other podcasting platforms.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by Spotify, but The Wall Street Journal reports that the deal is estimated to be worth $250 million, including revenue share. His previous deal was estimated to be worth between $100 million and $200 million.

The news confirms what insiders told The Verge last year, which is that Rogan would be likely to stay, but with greater flexibility. Even while being exclusive to Spotify, Rogan managed to have the No. 1 podcast in the world. With the new arrangement, during an election year, no less, it seems likely his listenership will only grow. Once his show gets wide distribution, Spotify will no longer have any podcasts exclusive to the platform.

This marks the end of a major change in strategy for Spotify. The company went big on exclusive podcast deals several years ago as a way to lock users to its platform. That strategy evidently was not a big enough success, and the company is now transitioning these deals into ad sales arrangements. Call Her Daddy went wide access earlier this week, and the company launched a new show with Trevor Noah last year under the same arrangement. Now that Spotify’s biggest star is going to be widely available, that exclusive availability strategy is truly done for.