Podcasters Keep the Rights and Sell the Distribution, and Streaming Is Paying for It

When Jay Shetty started On Purpose in 2019 he was told the field was already crowded and that he was, in any case, a content creator rather than a broadcaster. Seven years later his long interviews compete with television, and his new contract puts both audio and video of the show on Spotify and on Netflix at the same time, for a combined payment of around 100 million dollars over three years.

The structural detail underneath that number matters more than the number. Unlike film or television, podcasters generally keep ownership of their intellectual property. Platforms and networks are paying millions for the right to distribute the show and to sell the advertising around it, not to own it. A host who leaves takes the programme with them.

That is precisely why the streaming services stayed out for so long, and why YouTube was allowed to become the largest podcast platform in the world unchallenged. From 2025 the calculation changed. Netflix, Hulu and Tubi came in to take viewing time back, and after initial offers of one to two million dollars for the biggest shows were turned down, Netflix used the tactic it has used before to buy share in television: pay more than the incumbents. Offers above ten million dollars a year, on one or two year terms, pulled flagship programmes away from Spotify, iHeart and Barstool Sports. The British network Goalhanger is reported to have taken 19 million dollars for 40 episodes.

Netflix co chief executive Ted Sarandos described video podcasts on an earnings call as the modern version of the talk show, with the difference that instead of one programme defining the brand there are hundreds of them.

The economics that make this attractive are the ones television lost. Podcasts cost far less to produce, publish all year rather than in seasons, and earn much of their money from advertising read out by the host inside both the audio and the video. Brands pay heavily for a trusted recommendation or for a narrowly defined audience.

At the top the numbers are in a different bracket again. Joe Rogan remains the highest paid podcaster in the world, publishing around 15 episodes a month and, according to one data provider, passing 80 million downloads and views. His 2024 agreement with Spotify runs three years and could be worth up to 250 million dollars. For most of the field, a deal above 100 million with one of the major networks is the ceiling rather than the going rate.