Joe Rogan Re-Ups Lucrative Spotify Deal

To put this in context, Kimmel and Fallon have 2.5 and 1.4 million nightly viewers on average compared to Joe's 28.4 million. Joe operates with a small staff of approx 5 people, costing $1-2 million per year. Fallon's operating costs (excluding his own pay) run about $75-%85 million, Kimmel $100 to $120 million.

Joe Rogan Re-Ups Lucrative Spotify Deal

Latest multiyear agreement comes as ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ remains No. 1 in U.S. listenership

By Anne Steele, WSJ

Oct. 8, 2026

Spotify has renewed its partnership with podcaster Joe Rogan in a new multiyear deal for licensing rights and ad sales.

Spotify has re-upped with star podcaster Joe Rogan, securing licensing rights and ad sales for his show in a multiyear deal.

The renewal is for similar terms to Rogan’s previous deal with the streaming service, which allowed “The Joe Rogan Experience” to be distributed broadly and for an estimated earnout of $250 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

“The partnership with Spotify has been an amazing fit, and they’re incredible to work with,” Rogan said. “I’m extremely happy and excited to continue with them for years to come.”

“The Joe Rogan Experience” has been No. 1 on Edison Research’s list of the most listened-to podcasts in the U.S. since tracking began in 2019. The show has more than 18 million followers on Spotify, and more than 21 million on YouTube.

Launched in 2009, the show was a pioneer of the long-form video-podcast format, with Rogan hosting fellow comedians, Hollywood A-listers, politicians, scientists and authors for wide-ranging conversations sometimes running over three hours.

The show also became a platform for young, male talent that came to be known as the “manosphere.” Rogan has been at once a fan of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and an outspoken critic of woke and cancel culture. He interviewed and endorsed Donald Trump before the 2024 election. On election night, he got an onstage shout-out from UFC Chief Executive and Trump ally Dana White, who thanked “the mighty and powerful Joe Rogan.”

Rogan has since spoken out against the administration on certain issues, including immigration enforcement. Many of his biggest episodes over the past year have been nonpolitical, including interviews with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, YouTuber MrBeast and UFO enthusiast Bob Lazar.

Spotify first tapped Rogan in 2020, paying more than $100 million to bring his medium-dominating show exclusively to its platform and help jump-start its then-nascent podcast business. While some other shows that went exclusively to Spotify lost audience, “The Joe Rogan Experience” has grown.

The show was reaching about 28.4 million Americans in the second quarter of this year, according to Edison, up from 6.6 million at the beginning of 2020.

In early 2024, Spotify renewed the partnership but began distributing the show across podcast platforms, including YouTube.

Spotify has remained hands-off with the show, with Rogan and his small team retaining editorial control. When Neil Young in 2022 pulled his music catalog from the service citing what he said was vaccine misinformation spread by Rogan, the company backed the podcaster. Young returned his catalog to Spotify in 2024.

The company has said that authors, musicians and comedians get a boost from appearances on Rogan’s show, with listeners seeking out guests’ work across other podcasts, music and audiobooks.

Jordan Newman, Spotify’s head of content partnerships, said Spotify’s podcast business has grown alongside “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Spotify, the largest audiostreaming service, has 300 million premium subscribers.

“Joe has built something incredibly enduring, and his show continues to resonate with a massive global audience because there’s simply nothing else like it,” he said.