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Joe. F***ing. Rogan.
Yesterday, Spotify announced a $100 million exclusive partnership with Joe Rogan.
$100 million sounds like a lot of money - but is it really?
Time to look into who the real winner of this deal is.
Thread
Yesterday, Spotify announced a $100 million exclusive partnership with Joe Rogan.
$100 million sounds like a lot of money - but is it really?
Time to look into who the real winner of this deal is.
Thread
Joe Rogan is the undisputed king of podcasting.
He has built an empire that attracts 190M downloads a month with only a microphone.
As @APompliano says:
“One of the true paths to freedom is making a living with only an internet connection.”
No one does it better than Joe.
He has built an empire that attracts 190M downloads a month with only a microphone.
As @APompliano says:
“One of the true paths to freedom is making a living with only an internet connection.”
No one does it better than Joe.
JRE is interesting because it breaks all the rules of content.
1. Episodes are 2+ hours long
2. Daily episodes (instead of once a week)
3. Controversial guests (s.c Alex Jones)
These unorthodox decisions made JRE the largest podcast in the world at over 190M monthly downloads.
1. Episodes are 2+ hours long
2. Daily episodes (instead of once a week)
3. Controversial guests (s.c Alex Jones)
These unorthodox decisions made JRE the largest podcast in the world at over 190M monthly downloads.
There are large, blue chip media companies that spend hundreds of millions of dollars and still can’t acquire an audience that size.
CNN had 148 million digital viewers in January, and that was their biggest month ever.
Joe did it with only a microphone and a staff of four.
CNN had 148 million digital viewers in January, and that was their biggest month ever.
Joe did it with only a microphone and a staff of four.
$100 million is a lot of money for a 5 man operation - but is it enough?
Let’s do some quick math.
Industry standard for podcasts is about $25 CPM. Let’s assume Rogan gets a $15CPM to account for his size, discounts to long time advertisers, and unsold inventory.
Let’s do some quick math.
Industry standard for podcasts is about $25 CPM. Let’s assume Rogan gets a $15CPM to account for his size, discounts to long time advertisers, and unsold inventory.
A $15 CPM on 190M downloads nets Rogan $2.85M per month, or $34M per year.
At that rate, Spotify would recoup its $100M in under three years!
And that doesn’t even include the subscription revenue that JRE will drive to their platform.
Suddenly, $100M doesn’t seem so high.
At that rate, Spotify would recoup its $100M in under three years!
And that doesn’t even include the subscription revenue that JRE will drive to their platform.
Suddenly, $100M doesn’t seem so high.
$100M also looks low when you look at recent acquisitions by Spotify.
1. Gimlet Media ($20M in revenue, $200+M)
2. The Ringer ($20M in revenue, $200+M)
If Rogan got a similar multiple, that would mean he actually got closer to $300M.
1. Gimlet Media ($20M in revenue, $200+M)
2. The Ringer ($20M in revenue, $200+M)
If Rogan got a similar multiple, that would mean he actually got closer to $300M.
There is also the non-financial aspect of the deal.
Rogan is the biggest name in podcasting and it’s not even close.
He is to podcasts what Jordan is to basketball. What Tiger is to golf.
An exclusive partnership with Roganis a symbolic win for Spotify.
Rogan is the biggest name in podcasting and it’s not even close.
He is to podcasts what Jordan is to basketball. What Tiger is to golf.
An exclusive partnership with Roganis a symbolic win for Spotify.
That isn’t to say it’s not a financial win for Spotify. It is.
At the time of this post, Spotify’s stock is up over 10%.
That translates to over $3B in market cap, or over $100M for personally for Daniel Ek.
Basically, Rogan has paid for himself in one day.
At the time of this post, Spotify’s stock is up over 10%.
That translates to over $3B in market cap, or over $100M for personally for Daniel Ek.
Basically, Rogan has paid for himself in one day.
Here's a link for those interested in reading more on the making of Joe Rogan and what the acquisition means for Spotify as a platform. https://blockworksgroup.io/blog/joe-rogan-spotify
