New report might reveal why Joe Rogan is staying on Spotify

A new report on Spotify’s Joe Rogan Experience deal could reveal why the platform has kept to its guns in keeping the embattled host, and why Rogan isn’t entertaining the idea of leaving.

Spotify spent $200 million to acquire Joe Rogan’s JRE, about $100 million more than what was previously believed, according to a New York Times report. That’s a hefty chunk of capital for just one program, especially since the company spent a bit less on entire company acquisitions like The Ringer and Gimlet Media, per the same report. Rogan has come under fire for past comments on everything from allegedly spreading misinformation as well as past clip compilations of him using a historically racist word.

This has brought everything from a cancel movement against Rogan to Spotify itself coming under fire. But it’s not likely either party will budge, despite tempting offers to do so. Content is king in Spotify’s eyes. The company has been growing its original programming and podcast offerings to diversify what it can offer to its millions of subscribers.

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That’s led the company to sign big names with big audiences including Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy show, JaackMaate’s Happy Hour, and TikTok star Addison Rae’s Mama Knows Best, to name a few.

Still, the company has been putting out fires left and right on Rogan’s behalf, which it might happily continue to do to compete with bigger forces in the tech world.

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Despite the press that Rogan has been bringing in lately, JRE’s $200 million deal is indicative of Spotify’s all-in play for the popular host, which could be a bit too high for competitors to match on a single creator.