After a down market in the celebrity podcast business last year, when big spenders like Spotify and Amazon tightened their purse strings, nine-figure megadeals are back in fashion. But this time around, the big-name stars have something more: experience and established followings.
This week, Travis Kelce, the star Kansas City Chiefs tight end turned Taylor Swift paramour, and his brother Jason Kelce, the former center of the Philadelphia Eagles, announced a partnership with Wondery for their “New Heights” podcast worth $100 million or more.
The announcement came shortly after Alex Cooper said that “Call Her Daddy” would be leaving Spotify for SiriusXM in an agreement reportedly worth up to $125 million.
Also this year, Wondery picked up Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” for about $80 million; SiriusXM acquired “SmartLess,” hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett, for upward of $100 million; and Spotify paid $250 million to extend its control over “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
“I think there’s always going to be a place for the biggest talent with large and growing audiences,” said Jen Sargent, the chief executive of Wondery, which is owned by Amazon. “They can command higher deal sizes because the math works.”
An earlier spree of lavish celebrity podcast deals largely fizzled, with series from Kim Kardashian and from Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, seen as failing to justify their cost.
The new deals are considered more conservative despite the dollars involved. All of the shows are chat- or interview-based, a genre that has been a hit with audiences and can be produced inexpensively. And the hosts have already demonstrated their skills behind a microphone.
“New Heights,” which was the fourth-largest podcast in the United States by weekly listeners during the first quarter of this year, according to Edison Research, has more than 2.4 million subscribers on YouTube and regularly ranks near the top of Apple’s and Spotify’s podcast charts.
“It used to be that people were getting multimillion-dollar development deals just for the promise that they would make a podcast, whether they understood what one was or not,” said Eric Nuzum, a podcast strategist and co-founder of the independent studio Magnificent Noise.
“The Kelce brothers, Dax Shepard, the ‘SmartLess’ guys — they’re getting these deals because they actually deliver audiences who come back to listen again and again, and that’s really what these companies are after,” he said.
Travis and Jason Kelce started “New Heights” in 2022 as an outlet for sharing stories about their lives as National Football League players. Its popularity skyrocketed last year as the brothers’ teams faced off in the Super Bowl and Travis Kelce began a high-profile relationship with Swift.
The new deal grants Wondery exclusive rights to distribute and sell ads for “New Heights” for the next three years. The show will also be available early and ad-free on its paid subscription service Wondery+.
Aaron Eanes, one of Travis Kelce’s managers, said the Kelces were guaranteed a minimum nine-figure payment as part of the deal and might earn significantly more through a percentage of ad revenue and other income.
“When we look at all the markets we reach — men, women, people of color, sports fans, non-sports fans — we see a ton of upside,” Eanes said.
Sargent said Wondery would seek to extend the “New Heights” brand across Amazon’s platforms, including Freevee and Fire TV. One possible target, she said, is “Thursday Night Football,” which is exclusively broadcast on Amazon Prime.
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