Podcast king Joe Rogan may ditch Spotify for one more platform — possibly even joining Elon Musk’s X — after his contract expires next 12 months.
The wildly popular host of the “Joe Rogan Experience” — which pulls an estimated 11 million listeners per episode — signed an exclusive licensing deal with Spotify that paid him a reported $200 million in 2020.
But with Spotify cutting its ballooning costs as Rogan’s contract comes to end, industry experts said the podcaster is in the driver’s seat.
“It’s a situation where you’re damned if you happen to do, and you’re damned if you happen to don’t,” Arete Research founder Richard Kramer told The Verge.
“In case you do keep him, Spotify shall be locked into paying Rogan as much or greater than before, at a time after they need to contain costs. In case you don’t keep him, then it’s really tough because your biggest property and source of sales inside the ad business — walks.”
The Post has sought comment from Rogan and Spotify.
Rogan has a wide range of options, including striking out on his own by making a media company that will distribute the podcast as well as produce other content that will appeal to his fan base, analysts said.
Another choice could also be joining forces with Rogan’s good friend Musk, the Tesla mogul who famously smoked pot on Rogan’s podcast and got in trouble for it.
Musk, who acquired the social media platform for $44 billion last 12 months, has sought to attract larger audiences to X through independent content creators.
He recently sat down with Rogan for a specially streamed interview — the first two hours of which were available exclusively on the platform formerly known as Twitter.
During the interview, Musk lashed out at George Soros, the liberal billionaire financier and backer of progressive districts attorney in crime-hit cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, saying: “In my view, he fundamentally hates humanity.”
Other players in streaming such as Alphabet’s YouTube or Amazon could also enter the picture and offer Rogan a deal that dwarfs the nine-figure contract that he inked with Spotify.
Spotify’s signing of Rogan was a coup for the company — despite the string of controversies surrounding the podcast’s guests.
Rogan’s lineup of interviewees included conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as well as skeptics of the COVID-19 vaccine — amongst other guests.
Rogan’s penchant for interviewing outside-the-mainstream figures sparked calls for Spotify to muzzle their podcast star — which the company has refused to do.
Last 12 months, Rogan had threatened to quit if he was forced to limit the topics that he could discuss on his show.
Spotify has been on a cost-cutting spree after making bad bets on podcasting in recent times.
The Stockholm-based company ended up ruing the greater than $1 billion investments it made in signing big-name stars such as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Obamas, and Kim Kardashian — all of whom created podcasts that resulted in an enormous net loss.
Spotify laid off 6% of its employees earlier this 12 months and commenced raising prices for its subscription tiers.
“We’re still specializing in efficiencies, but efficiencies for us doesn’t mean just cost-cutting, it means getting more out of every dollar,” CEO Daniel Ek told Reuters
The corporate’s cost-cutting strategy appears to have paid off in the most up-to-date quarter.
Spotify posted a 3rd quarter operating income of $34.1 million, its first quarterly profit since 2021, helped by a better gross margin and a growing base of monthly listeners.
The corporate’s variety of monthly lively users rose 26% to 574 million in the third quarter, beating its own guidance and analysts’ forecast of 565.7 million.
Premium subscribers, who account for many of the company’s revenue, rose 16% to 226 million, topping estimates of 223.7 million, according to IBES data from LSEG.