A publisher such as Wondery and iHeartRadio can have multiple hits from year to year, but they’re usually short-lived. Wondery’s The Shrink Next Door, The New York Times’ Nice White Parents and Wondery’s The Apology Line were tops in 2019, 20, respectively, but aren’t hits today. In recent years, the most popular new podcasts have been limited series that aren’t among today’s top shows. It’s not TJRE, but Smartless has tentpole potential for Amazon or another streaming company.įinding another Rogan won’t be easy, though. But it’s a steep drop-off from there: No.

Less than two years after launching, Smartless ranks No. Amazon-owned Wondery produces Smartless, a two-year-old podcast created by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes - three Hollywood actors with sudden downtime during the pandemic. The risk to Spotify is that competitors can follow the same playbook by building around an English-language podcast with a well-known host. 2016, when Podtrac began releasing its top 20 podcast list, many of the today’s top podcasts were also popular back then: This American Life, Radiolab, Stuff You Should Know Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me Hidden Brain Fresh Air Planet Money and TJRE are still top 20 podcasts more than five years later. Podcast listeners tend to stick with their favorite personalities and franchises. The show’s enduring popularity isn’t a surprise. But beyond all else TJRE helps give podcasts a high profile at Spotify and is likely an effective magnet that attracts and retains some subscribers. Two acquisitions, ad-tech company Megaphone and podcast creation app Anchor, have given Spotify an army of independent podcast creators and the means to put advertising in their episodes. It acquired production studios The Ringer, Gimlet and Parcast. Spotify also licenses Call Her Daddy, another insanely popular podcast, and creates shows with Barack and Michelle Obama and the former British royals, Prince Harry and Meghan Markel.

Spotify paid dearly for TJRE’s exclusive rights : most reports put the figure at $100 million but it’s been reported to be as high as $200 million. After all, TJRE is a cornerstone of the company’s efforts to build an all-around audio platform and expand its margins to compensate for its reliance on recorded music. The Ledger: Should Music Streamers Follow Netflix's Lead on Account Sharing?

Bill maher joe rogan spotify