Velocity of Content

Velocity of Content


Licensing Comes to Podcasting

October 03, 2021

Podcasting is big – and it is getting much bigger.

Right now, there are more than 1 million active podcasts and more than 30 million available podcast episodes. The rapidly expanding market has attracted some of the world’s biggest celebrities – from Will Ferrell to Michelle Obama to Malcolm Gladwell, Chelsea Handler and Shonda Rhimes.

In May 2020, Spotify agreed to an exclusive $100 million deal with Joe Rogan, the biggest licensing agreement ever made in podcasting. The $900 million Blackstone Media paid in August for Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine production company includes notable film and TV properties as well as a burgeoning podcast network targeting women listeners.

At the recent Copyright and Technology 2021, an industry panel shared insights with CCC’s Chris Kenneally on negotiating podcasting licensing deals from both sides of the contract – representing content producers and content providers.