Podcasting—so intimate, so casual, so easy to do yourself. It’s one of the most significant disruptions to the media business over the past decade. How’s it working out?
What began as a series of scrappy upstarts who found success despite the insurmountable odds has reached a new normal. Nothing but the biggest names—many who have already found success in other fields—are diving in and reaping absurd financial rewards, effectively pushing out the new blood that can lift the medium to new innovative heights.
Amazon, Spotify, and SiriusXM have been on a spending spree in recent years, snatching up every big-name podcast they can and locking them up into exclusivity deals that sometimes don’t pan out, or recently buying rights to ads and tours for a show on multiple platforms. This comes at a time when the entertainment industry as a whole is telling unestablished creators that there’s just no money to develop their pitches.
Podcasting has become a lot like the film and TV industries of the past 20 years, with companies looking for preestablished IP with an existing fan base, so audiences don’t have to do the hard work of wrapping their minds around a new thing.
Jaw-dropping, nine-figure podcasting deals aren’t exactly the norm yet, but there have been quite a few, with increasing regularity. Here are the celebrity podcasters who have broken the bank recently:
The Kelce brothers ($100m): The Amazon-owned podcast studio and publisher Wondery dropped a cool $100 million on the New Heights podcast hosted by current and former NFL players and brothers Travis and Jason Kelce. The deal was announced a week before the NFL season is set to begin.
SmartLess ($100m): Hosted by actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett, SmartLess started during the pandemic so the stars could have something to do. It quickly gained a huge following, launching a tour that turned into a TV show. SmartLess jumped ship to SiriusXM in January 2024 for, you guessed it, another $100 million.
Alex Cooper ($125m): The host of the sex and relationship podcast Call Her Daddy just signed a three-year, $125 million deal with SiriusXM. She’d had a three-year $60 million deal with Spotify and been a part of the Barstool Network before that.
Conan O’Brien ($150m): Late-night TV comedy legend Conan O’Brien signed a $150 million deal with SiriusXM back in 2022. It’s not just for his incredibly popular Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast but the entire Team Coco podcast network, which includes podcasts hosted by other big-name stars like Rob Lowe.
Joe Rogan ($250m): Controversial podcaster, comedian, and MMA commentator Joe Rogan has one of the biggest podcasts on earth. In February 2024, he signed a new $250 million multiyear deal that ensures that his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, remains on Spotify.
Bill Simmons ($250m): Here’s one to watch. Bill Simmons is a sports and pop-culture fanatic who made a name for himself with some of the best sports writing ESPN has ever published on his site, Grantland. He later started a new website and podcast network called The Ringer, home to a series of massive shows, including The Bill Simmons Podcast. The Ringer sold for $250 million in 2020—but its deal with Spotify is up in early 2025. Could the next one set a new record?
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