"The Joe Rogan Experience" will leave Apple Podcasts later in 2020 to become a Spotify exclusive, it was revealed on Tuesday afternoon.
'The Joe Rogan Experience' will leave both YouTube and Apple Podcasts for Spotify later in 2020.
One of the most popular podcasts that Apple hosts, The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), has long been unavailable on Spotify, despite being one of the most-searched-for podcasts on that platform. That's due to change on September 1, when Joe Rogan's talk show will move to Spotify as part of a multi-year exclusive licensing deal, Spotify announced in a blog post.
It doesn't appear that JRE will be pulled off of other platforms, like Apple Podcasts, immediately on Sept 1. Spotify said that it'll become an exclusive "later this year."
While past Spotify podcast efforts appeared to have been aimed at Apple, this one also seems to be directed toward YouTube. Joe Rogan is currently one of YouTube's most popular video podcasters, with 8.41 million subscribers on the platform.
YouTube will retain Joe Rogan's channel, but it won't feature full podcast episodes going forward. Along with the audio podcasts, Spotify itself will feature JRE video content as "in-app vodcasts." Spotify maintains that comedian and talk show host Joe Rogan will maintain creative control over the podcast.
The move is just part of a broader push from Spotify into the podcasts market. In February, those efforts appear to have paid off, with Spotify reporting a 200% year-over-year rise in podcast listening on its platform.