As of Thursday afternoon, Oct. 8, 2026, Spotify has announced a new multi-year licensing agreement with podcaster Joe Rogan for “The Joe Rogan Experience” (JRE). The figure of about $250 million attached to it is an estimate from The Wall Street Journal that other outlets relayed, not a number Spotify has given.
Spotify’s newsroom post is time-stamped about 8:05 a.m. EDT. By 11:43 a.m. ET, the Daily Caller was relaying the Journal’s report. The Journal’s article is paywalled; the outlets below describe it.
What Spotify announced
Spotify’s post is titled “Spotify and Joe Rogan Continue Longstanding Partnership.” It says: “Spotify and Joe are continuing our longstanding relationship with a new multi-year licensing agreement for JRE. Fans can keep watching or listening to new episodes on Spotify each week, as well as across other platforms.”
Rogan is quoted in the post: “The partnership with Spotify has been an amazing fit, and they’re incredible to work with,” Joe said. “I’m extremely happy and excited to continue with them for years to come.”
Jordan Newman, Spotify’s Head of Content Partnerships, is also quoted: “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,” said Newman. “Spotify’s podcast business has grown alongside JRE over the years, and we’re excited to keep building on that partnership for years to come.”
What the Wall Street Journal reportedly estimated
The Daily Caller reported at 11:43 a.m. ET that Rogan secured “a deal estimated to be worth upwards of $250 million, according to new reports.” It added: “The financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed, but sources close to the situation cited the $250 million estimate, according to The Wall Street Journal.”
The Big Lead, in a Thursday piece, wrote that the Journal “reveals that Rogan and Spotify agreed to a new deal with ‘an estimated earnout of $250 million.'” It names no sources and does not define “earnout.”
Neither Spotify nor Rogan has confirmed the figure.
How it compares with the earlier deals
The $250 million figure is not new. Spotify announced a renewal with Rogan on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, and the Associated Press story ran Feb. 3. The AP reported that the Journal “estimated that the new contract was worth as much as $250 million over its multiyear term,” citing unnamed “people familiar with the matter.” The AP said that deal involved “an upfront minimum guarantee, in addition to a revenue sharing agreement based on ad sales.” In 2024, Spotify declined to comment on the financial details, including the estimated value, in an email to the AP.
The wording differs. “As much as” in the AP’s 2024 account marks a maximum; “upwards of” in the Daily Caller’s 2026 account suggests a minimum. Neither outlet explains the difference, and the Journal’s own text could not be read. The dollar figure is the same one the same newspaper reported in 2024.
The original deal was announced in May 2020. TheWrap reported on Tuesday, May 19, 2020: “Spotify will pay Rogan more than $100 million, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday afternoon.” NBC News, in February 2022, described a multiyear contract “reported to be worth more than $100 million.”
What exclusivity meant, and what the new post says
In 2020, TheWrap reported that Rogan’s show would hit Spotify on Sept. 1 “before being exclusively available on the streaming service by the end of 2020.” The AP said in 2024 that the show “had been a Spotify exclusive since 2020.”
The AP reported that after the 2024 renewal the show “will soon also be available on competing platforms, including YouTube and Apple Podcasts.” The Daily Caller wrote on Thursday that Spotify “ended its exclusive deal with Rogan in 2024 and began distributing the podcast more widely.”
A licensing agreement gives Spotify rights to carry the show. NBC News wrote in 2022 that “Spotify has maintained that the company does not act as the publisher of Rogan’s podcast.”
The audience numbers Spotify gives
Spotify’s post says JRE “is the world’s most popular podcast” and, “with 18 million followers,” has been “the most-followed show on Spotify since our partnership with Joe Rogan began in 2020.” It also calls JRE “the top podcast across all major platforms in 2025.” That is Spotify’s own wording, and the post does not say what ranking it relies on.
The ranking Variety reported in December 2025 is Spotify’s own U.S. list, which counts Spotify listeners only. It put Rogan at No. 1 “for the fifth straight year” and ranks shows by unique users who listened to at least two minutes of an episode, or at least 50% of an episode.
Why 2022 is part of the story
The 2024 renewal and the 2026 agreement came after a period of pressure on Spotify in 2022. The AP wrote in 2024 that Spotify “came under huge pressure in 2022 to drop Rogan over his anti-coronavirus vaccine comments and use of racial slurs.” In February 2022, NBC News reported that the company “was reported to have taken down about 70 episodes” of the show over a weekend, and that Rogan publicly apologized for instances when he used the N-word in past podcasts. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek wrote to employees that Rogan “chose to remove a number of episodes,” and: “While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more. And I want to make one point very clear — I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer.”
What is not known
- The terms. No dollar value has come from Spotify or Rogan, and Spotify’s post does not say what, if anything, differs from the 2024 renewal.
- The length. Spotify says “multi-year” and “for years to come” without giving a number.
- The platforms and exclusivity. Spotify does not name the “other platforms” or say whether any exclusive element or window of early access remains.