Spotify has paid more than $ 100 million on podcast and makers since January, the company told the New York Times dealbook.
The payout is the result of a program that was introduced in 2025 that new income flows opened for eligible hosts. But it is also an attempt to attract more makers (and their audience) to Spotify Te Spotify, because the rise of video god casting has driven a lot of them to YouTube.
Video started dominating the podcasting. More than half of the Americans older than 12 years have watched a videooDCast – but mainly on YouTube, according to a research report from Edison from January. The service claims to reach 1 billion podcast consumers every month, making it the dominant platform for podcasts-a media and kingmaker and leaving platforms with only audio such as Spotify and Apple in the dust. (Spotify introduced Videopodcasts in 2019.)
Compared to YouTube, Spotify has become a podcast underdog, with around 170 million monthly podcast -listeners among his total audience of 675 million. An indication of how far Spotify should go to catch up with the top player: YouTube paid more than $ 70 billion in makers and media companies from 2021 to 2024.
The company reports the profit on Tuesday and is expected to earn around 540 million euros in income before tax at 4.2 billion euros in turnover, according to S&P Capital IQ.
But Spotify, which is mentioned on the New York Stock Exchange but is located in Stockholm, remains an important player in the industry, thanks in part to his Talentrum Basting – it distributes and sells advertisements for the largest podcast in the world, “The Joe Rogan Experience.” And it reached its first full year of profitability in 2024 (Mr. Rogan's podcasts are also available on YouTube.)
The new partner program is intended to leave YouTube's dominance. Spotify previously paid makers only by sharing advertisements with them, just like YouTube. Now it also gives them incentives to upload videos, with eligible makers earning extra money based on how many premium subscribers deal with their videos.
The company tries to attract more viewers. At the same time that Spotify announced the partnership program in November, it announced that paid subscribers in certain markets do not have to view dynamic advertisements in videoodcasts. Video Consumption has increased by more than 40 percent since January, according to Spotify.
The question now is whether Spotify Makers can convince to shift priorities.
David Coles, host of the Horror Fiction Podcast 'Just Creepy: Scary Stories', said he evaluates his 'home platform' after his Spotify income recently surpassed his YouTube income. Last quarter Mr. Coles said he received around $ 45,500 from Spotify. After he participated in the new partner program of the company, his income from the quarter of Spotify rose to around $ 81,600.
This increase can be even more dramatic for larger shows and podcast companies, such as YMH Studios, a comedy network with 2.1 million YouTube subscribers who produce popular podcasts, including “2 Bears, 1 Cave.” While he refused to share exact figures, YMH Studios said that her quarter of income more than tripled after becoming a member of the partner program.
Although makers emphasized that these are still early days, Alan Abdine, the head of advertising income at YMH Studios, called the new payment program 'A Game Changer' and 'A very happy surprise'.
