387 - Podcasts on Netflix, Patreon’s Huge Payout, & New Listening Habits Revealed

0:04 Good morning, podcasting Morning Chat. Today is Wednesday, October 15th, 2025, and today we're diving into the week's biggest podcast headlines from Netflix and Spotify's bold video move to YouTube surprise creator comeback to what AI really is and isn't for podcasters. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button, bottom left hand side of the screen and share it. However, Clubhouse lets you. And if you're catching us via podcast or YouTube, please share this episode with a fellow podcaster. Now give me about 30 seconds and we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here.

1:20 Good morning again, podcasting, Morning chat. Thanks so much for being here. I am your host Mark Ronik on stage with me. Currently, we have Dr. Fey, Nick Nalback, producer Ashley Feller, Jonathan Howard, Sid Meadows, and Phil Better. Today, as I mentioned, we're going to cover all the headlines that are around the world of podcasting and content creation, and I want to first say thank you for your patience this week. I know that we took Monday off for the holiday here in the US and then Tuesday I did not sleep well leading into Tuesday morning. I went to bed late because I got to watch my Washington Commanders lose terribly to the Chicago Bears.

2:03 So I got to bed around 11:30 or so, which is definitely later than I normally do. Then I woke up at 3:00, 3-10 after three, something like that, and I could not fall back asleep. I tried all the hacks actually, and I will say I probably did fall asleep, but it was not deep sleep and it was only on occasion. I think I would doze in and out. I got up and Dr. and I were prepping for the show and I finally just said to her, I can't do it. I just can't do it today. I had no energy. I was groggy. I took two naps yesterday and I rarely take naps. So something was going on. But I feel much better today, so thank you SO. Mark, you had mentioned you tried all the hacks, so go through a hack or two.

2:49 I'm going to share one. I'll share one because this isn't a sleep hack show, but I'm talking about it. So yes, I will share. I learned this just recently. My wife found it. Somebody on TikTok or Instagram or both for that matter. I'll have to find out. And if I can, I'll I'll share it with everybody. But this woman shares it's this eye movement hack that you do. You close your eyes and here's the pattern. You look up again with your eyes closed, look up, look down, look left, look right. Then do a full circle with your eye movement going in One Direction and then full circle going in the other direction and then go cross eyed and then repeat. Now when I did this, it was, I did it, I've done it now a few nights, not just that night and it obviously didn't work as well for me that night.

3:42 But in generally speaking when I do it, I do it like 2-3 times and then I, it never fails. I I'll say to myself, this crap doesn't work and then the next thing I know my alarm goes off. So I, I think it does do something. I can't tell you why and I'll find out, but it does seem to help me. So try that out and let me know what you think. I. Will. Thank you. So with that, let me hit the right button. Oh, there it was. Still did it wrong. Let's get into some news and comment. And you know what? I know I just hit the music. I know I just said I want to hit news and comment, but I do want to. I just looked at Jonathan's profile picture. Jonathan has a new addition to the family and I know if you're following along.

4:30 If you've been following the podcasting morning chat for a couple months, you may recall Jonathan lost one of his dogs recently and has added a new addition. Jonathan, tell us real quick about the dog. Maverick is a three-year old Pitbull terrier mix and he is the sweetest dog I've ever met. I haven't heard him bark in a week. So. So you've had him for a week now. Well, I guess no, not not fully a week. I got him on Saturday morning. And he's getting along your other dog's name again. I keep forgetting. Max. Max. So I have Max and Maverick. Yeah, Max is paying attention to him. Not enjoying him, but paying attention to him, which is more than I could say he was doing for the last six weeks. Good.

5:14 And I'm sure as time goes on they'll get more used to each other. Congratulations, Jonathan. I know you're a dog person like myself and I know how hard it is to lose a pet, especially well for me since I'm a dog guy, especially a dog, and I know it's hard for any kind of losing any kind of pet. So I'm glad that you've moved forward. I won't say move on, moved on, but moved forward and you've added this furry edition. Congratulations. OK, Now, as I said, I will get to today's headlines. First, we like to start out with a little podcast data for you. So the number one podcast on Apple as of yesterday, October 14th, Crime Junkie by Audio Chuck and I'll save the Spotify list in just a moment for Dr. to share the top five because we all know who usually sits in that number one slot on Spotify specifically. 1st, I'm going to give you some different stats than I normally do in this part of the in this portion of the show, buzz sprouts global stats.

6:18 We sometimes talk about this. These are and the ones I like to focus on sometimes when we dig into this episode, downloads within the first seven days. Now this is how many if you are receiving X number of downloads within your first week, I'm going to tell you where you fall on the independent podcaster. What's the word here? I don't know what the word is here on the list of independent podcasters. For example, if you have average, if you're averaging around 27 downloads in your first seven days, you're in the top 50% among all independent podcasters on Buzz Sprout, which is just in for context, it is a very popular platform.

6:59 We're not talking 100 podcasters using it here, We're talking thousands of podcasters using Buzz Sprout. You are in the top 25 if you received 110 downloads. Top 10% gets 451 downloads. If you get 1028 downloads, that's putting you in the top 5%. And those top 1% of podcasts are getting 4206 downloads per episode. So precise. It is, it is. And I think it's also real time as well. I think they'd often those are constantly updated. I think like I said in real time. So you can check that out at buzzsprout.com/stats. Now we're coming to you, Dr. for your Spotify top five lists. So #5 is this past week with Theo von #4 is the Tucker Carlson show #3 is the Diary of a CEO is Stephen Bartlett. Number 2 is Mystery Mondays and #1 is the Joe Rogan Experience. Oh, Joey.

8:15 Congratulations Joe Rogan, really a huge feat for you. I'm I'm so impressed when you have another. Top five list I do, and this one is the random chart of the week is nonprofits. Nonprofits OK so #5 is them before us #4 is change Church podcast OK #3 is social. Button hold on, I gotta do it. Again, OK, here it is. OK #3 is a social Dallas podcast #2 is going big with Kevin Gentry, and #1 is Dergloben Neustock.

9:00 Wow. OK, so clearly a German show hits the number and this is the US top five. Right. the US top five. Interesting. The Globe machine. No start. And we know Dr. has a hard time pronouncing all foreign words. But look at look at the way the part that the globe is that AB. Yeah, I don't know. That looks like a capital B, but it's also, it looks like a different font. It's clearly not our language. Dr. Yeah, OK. Yes, all right, cool. Well, those that's the top five non profit list on Spotify currently. All right, thank you, Dr. Let's get you some events, shall we?

9:43 First, some events coming up as of today, if you are in the Washington, DC area, I'm looking to see here if we have Janaid here yet. No, Janaid has not arrived yet. Oh, somebody came in, but no, not Janaid. I say that because Janaid is in the Northern Virginia area. There is a podcast professionals happy hour. I know that the the Podcast Professionals Association is a part of it, among several others. This is happening at Aslin Beer Company. ASLIN, that's in Northwest Washington, DC. Again, that's tonight. So if you have to be listening today, if you want to catch that out, also in the DMV area, Baltimore, MD, to be precise. The 7th annual Afrozen Audio Podcast Festival will start on October 16th.

10:33 And as we learned from our friend Sabaza, who is Gen. Dubs Co host and Jen is here in the audience currently, as we learned from their show, it will be the last of the seven annual Afrozen Audio Podcast Festival. So check that out. If you've been experiencing FOMO in the past, you will have permanent FOMO if you don't check that out this time again, that's October 16th in Baltimore, MD. Just search Afros and audio podcast Festival and you'll find all the details there or just check our show notes for more details and Dr. coming back to you for your this mastermind group that you do weekly. That's right.

11:16 Well, it's an online networking event and it's every Thursday, and it's from the podcasters directory and it's made-up of podcasters and people who want to be on podcasts. So this next meeting will be Thursday, October 6th at 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM Eastern Time. You can adjust it in your own mind for your own place. And this week's topics are and it changes every week. So this week's topics are arts, entertainment, sports, outdoors, travel, and tourism. And to get in for free, all you have to do is use that PMC code PMC the initials of our show and you will get in for free and we will have a link for you in the show notes.

12:09 Dr. Can you just tell us a little bit more? Now obviously I think a lot of us can put draw our own conclusions to what a networking event is, but can you give us a little idea of like what do you guys actually do there 'cause it's virtual, right? It is. It's virtual. Answer you what? Last week I found three, possibly four really good prospects for my clients. That's why I go. I go to find guests for my clients and for me to find if they have podcasts themselves to see if there is an opportunity for a guest swap. And I found three really good prospects possibly for. So normally you would see these kind of events on Zoom. This is not Zoom.

12:54 This is on a platform, I believe it's called the Go lunch or go brunch or something like that. And you know what? I'm going to be honest, it's not my favorite platform. It's confusing. And he spends some time at the very beginning explaining everything. So with that said, just know that going in and a lot of people attend this. Each one of these things, arts, entertainment, sports, outdoor, they have their own room, their own breakout room, so you can pick which breakout room you want to go into. There is like a little time thing that someone will come in and say, hey, if you want to change your room and maybe you know, go to another room, feel free to do that. So you can you know, you don't have to just be stifled to one room.

13:44 You can you can travel around. I'm one of the O GS there and they gave us this opportunity to get for, you know, all the listeners to get in for free using PMC code, discount code. And I got to tell you, I think it's really, I think it's really going to be worth your time If you have a podcast and are looking for guests or if your genre is one of these that I'm reading off and you want to be a guest on a podcast. Awesome, thank you Dr. That's Thursday, October 16th, 4:00 PM. We will put a link in the show notes as well.

14:25 Thanks Dr. Appreciate that. I know it is cooking time, so go make those eggs for the hubby and I will keep things moving here. And I'm also stalling so I don't hit the wrong button. Let's keep things moving. And we see Matt Bliss has joined us as well. Good morning to Matt. Oh, and so has Alex. We've got a full stage here this morning. Thank you to all the Co hosts for joining this morning. And I'll start with this. The new prime time for podcasts isn't morning anymore. And this is according to Edison research and I'll explain well first I'll say that I know I generally speaking encourage the podcasters that work with me, my clients. I usually encourage them to publish their new episodes first thing in the morning because generally it's been known that people will, when they wake up or sometime in the morning hours, they will pull up their podcast app and see what's new and what they might be listening to that morning. Particularly as we've talked about in the past, particularly commute time is often a very popular time for people to listen to their podcast.

15:40 But according to Edison research, it turns out that now people ages 13 and over spend 10% of their total daily audio time with podcasts. And the real sweet spot for listening is 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, which accounts for 29% of all podcast consumption. The early morning hours, 6 to 10:00 AM follow closely behind. So that's it's still relevant that advice that we give with 24% and mid afternoons 2:00 to 6:00 PM grabs another 21%. Even the night owls are in on the mix. 11% listen between 10:00 PM and 2:00 AM and 3% are apparently falling asleep to their favorite hosts between 6:00 AM. I'm sorry, between 2:00 AM and 6:00. AMI know that I've got a a friend of mine who used to listen religiously to my old podcast, the Mark and Lowell Show.

16:40 And I know she used to tell me she's still she's I listen to your podcast every week. I love it. I love when you put it out. And then she'll go on and say, I put it on when I lay in bed and I'm going to sleep because I always fall asleep. Well, thanks. I'm glad that my podcast puts you to sleep. Hopefully that wasn't what everyone was doing because we used to get a lot of downloads, a lot of listening time on our podcast. Hopefully that wasn't people just snoozing through our podcast. But all this data shatters the myth that podcasting lives and dies by the commute. Listeners are tuning in through the work day, as I shared at Desks Gym, the home offices, making midday hours prime real estate for AD placement and episode drops. If you're releasing at midnight, you might be missing your audiences when they're actually listening. So does this change for anybody?

17:36 Like if you are posting normally at a certain time of day, you want your podcast episodes, let's say, to go out first thing in the morning. Does this change your mind for your strategy? And I'm going to check in with Phil better because Phil's one of our newer people here. And I want everyone to get to know Phil as as much as I've gotten to know Phil. And then we'll go to Nick for his commentary. Phil, good morning to you. What do you think here? Do? Do you have a strategy as far as when you post episodes or your clients post episodes? And does this change that strategy at all? Good morning podcast, morning chat, and of course, good morning, Mark.

18:16 No, it doesn't really, because if they downloaded it, we all know that most podcasts, most podcast listeners have to be podcasts that they listen to religiously. You know, they're going to listen to it whether it comes out at 5 AM, 10 AM or 5:00 PM, they're going to listen to it because that's their show. It's like AB, CS Bank, TGIF, everybody new Friday, we're going to watch these three shows at this time. Those are your shows. They're going to watch it, they're going to listen to it. So it doesn't really matter what time it comes out as long as it's, if you know, Mondays at 5:00 AM, it's going to come out. As long as you hit that time, it's your audience will know that it's available. I just don't see like, yes, between 10 and noon or 10 and 2 is the the right time because that's when most people are consuming this this stuff, but they're concerning their favorites.

19:15 So they're going to be already having them download, already have them set up to be in their phone. Like for me, the time as long as you get it out before your audience needs to. If they're traveling at 5:00 AM, make sure it's out at 5:00 AM. If they're traveling at 10 AM, make sure it's out by 10 AMI. Just say when do your when does your audience listen to it? Like that's what you're talking to industry can be completely different. It's what time is your audience member, the one person you're making this podcast for? When are they listening to? How are they listening to? Are they listening to it on the community? Are they listening to it at work? Are they, you know, listening to it when they're falling asleep, you know, and listening to Mark and Lloyd, to our Mark and. Lol.

20:07 Lol talk and fall asleep. You know, maybe it's that, but as long as you're getting it out on the day of and you're always consistent around the time, I don't see any reason why you should worry about when people are listening to. Thank you, Phil. And when you are promoting new episodes, do you tell your audience specifically like it? It comes out on Wednesday at 5:00 AM. Do you specifically share that, publicize the time, or just the day? Just the day I usually post when I'm on LinkedIn, I usually tell people that at around noon, between noon and one, I'm usually posting that the new episode is out. So if they want to go listen to they can. But I'm always releasing at 5:00 AM just because I want to make sure that those people who are stuck as my ideal listener is the Copa 9 to fivers who are who want to get out, right. So they're sometimes up at 5:00 AM because they have to go get ready for work.

21:07 They have their kids or whatever. So they're five AMI know some of them are up. So I want to make sure that they have an episode or whatever they're doing in the morning. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah, I don't know that I hear a lot of podcasters actually saying what time. They usually just say what day and I see a lot of people want to chime in. So we're going to get to that and I'm going to ask producer Ashley, can you put up a poll, Ashley here on Clubhouse asking and we can do it on the podcast platform on Spotify as well. We can put the same poll up asking people what time of day do you post new episodes? Morning, afternoon, evening or late night?

21:49 I want to find out because I saw some people saying 4:00 AM including Nick who was the 1st to raise his hand after we spoke to Phil. So Nick, what did you want to add to all this? Hey, good morning everybody. So first I wanted to ask a question, OK, because obviously not being on Apple, does Apple Podcasts send out a push notification when an episode gets released? You know, I have my push notifications turned off from the podcast app, so I don't know offhand. Does anybody here know? Do you get push notifications that a new episode has been published? I know that it will update it within the app automatically, I just don't know offhand if it actually notifies you, so we'll find out. It falls in line with a little bit of what Phil was saying there.

22:36 If the podcast apps aren't sending you a push notification at a specific time and you're catching the audience on the platform at a specific time, I kind of think it's irrelevant what time you post B. You'd be better to post in the beginning of the day like Phil was saying so that people who wake up early. You literally catch every one of those time slots that you mentioned in that article earlier. Because if you're waiting until 10:00 AM because majority of your listeners start listening at 10 AM, while you just excluded whatever 20% of the people that might be listening at 5:00 AM, right AM. So it to me it's a little bit different to like social media or like an e-mail newsletter where you're trying to test people on the platform at the specific time and timing your post to hit when they're there. I would just rather have it already be there when they show up to listen.

23:26 That's a good point and let me give you the answer. By the way. The short answer is yes. The Apple Podcast app can send push notifications for new episodes, but only if you follow the show. Notifications are enabled and notifications are turned on for that specific show within the app. So I believe you can actually control each show and the way that you are notified for each show. Dr. You wanted to say something, This is crazy. We've only had one story so far, but we've got a lot of conversations, so let's hear it. Go ahead, Dr. Well, normally I do for my clients. 4:00 AM central time. However, with this story coming out, I think I'm willing to experiment. I think I'm willing to experiment with this because of this story.

24:13 I'm not holding out for big results, but I mean it's worth an experiment. There you go. So Dr. is going to try it out. We're going to go to Matt and then Alex. Go ahead, Matt. Good morning. Good. Morning everybody. The only argument that makes sense for selecting a time that optimizes for anything that I've heard is to optimize for the 24 hour window where there may be an incentive for AD dollars to increase and for your downloads to be maximized for that initial 24 hour release window. Otherwise, I agree with everyone else, just post whenever makes the most sense for you. Can you dig into that a little deeper, Matt? Let's say that you've got a sponsorship deal, and the way that the sponsor justifies either rebuying or increasing or decreasing their overall CPM is based on both the monthly overall downloads for an episode and the initial 24 hour 1st 24 hours of an episode's release.

25:15 Then it will make the most sense for you to optimize the release window to capture as many listeners as possible. So the way that I would figure this out if I was doing it is to figure out where the majority of your listeners have come from so far. See which time zones you can target, and then move that 24 hour window beginning and end to cover as much of the listening habits of the people that are likely to download your episode. As soon as it comes out or when it's convenient for them to download it, it'll show in the pattern. And that way you'll capture as much as you can optimized in that first 24 hour window, all other extenuating circumstances, which we're all thinking about right now ignored. And I say optimizing and I, I always try to say that optimizing means that you're not doing the best thing for yourself as you would be for anything else. So I was simply saying that as a reason to do it. But I think if it's not really a thing to play around with that the argument I've heard so far makes sense. Like just do you tell people, don't tell people. People will come get it when it's there. That's why the RSS feed is great. Can't argue that.

26:26 Yeah, thank you. And I think Dr. wants to either comment or has a question. Go ahead, Dr., and then let's get to Alex. So this experiment, this study is all about the time of day. So I think hopefully the next logical follow up will be which day, because that hasn't been done for a long time. We've been coasting on an old, like an old study. So I think it's time to to do that study again. And right now I have one that posts on Tuesdays and I would be willing to experiment with that too. I would just love to see a little study come out, you know? Yeah, I think the older data that we've heard and it's maybe it's refreshed somewhere, we should probably go look, but it's usually Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday are the most popular days that podcast episodes are downloaded. So yeah, that's what I usually recommend to most podcasters is release those days.

27:23 And it's not because I think it's a must, it's just if you're trying to position yourself for the best possible results, then take advantage of some of that data that we understand, like time of day and day of the week. Why not just try to position yourself that way? For me, it depends on what day I'm going to run my errands, because those are the days that I download a bunch of podcasts and I listen to them when I'm in the car. So for me, it's not any particular day that I listen to a particular show back in the day. Oh no, OK, we need some special music for when I go back into my some. Old. Timey music.

28:03 That's right, right. Some old timey music. Every Saturday night at 10:00 PM, I'd be sitting in front of my TV set and I would watch the Kel Burnett Show. They called that appointment television. Appointment television because it was before you know all the VCRS and blah blah blah and if you didn't see it then then you were screwed people changed their whole lifestyle around watching rich man poor man all of these kind of TV movies I'm. Going to marry before. I.

28:44 Go on the spot. I just had to. Find something. I love it. Before all that before on demand, yeah, people changed their, you know, their dinner plans. People changed going out to party as well as been a rich man, poor man going to be on tonight. No, we have to can't do it tonight. So yeah, that was appointment television and we don't have appointment podcast listening because it's all on demand. Thank you, Dr. That's your little. History lesson for the Thank you so much. Thank you. For the thank you for the history lesson and Alex, I know you have been waiting patiently.

29:24 What did you want to add to wrap up this part of the conversation? I think it's really ironic that the only person that really has the time constraint is me in this whole room. And I say that because doing reviews, it's a race to get to be. 1st. It is time sensitive. With the rest of them, it really doesn't matter. And I will say if you make it important, then that's great. Lucy has a, if you want to call a podcast that she listens to this woman, Mariah Elizabeth or whatever, 4:00 Friday. She drops a new video every single Friday and that's her thing because she made it important. If you're following sports it's important to have it out at a certain time, but midnight is fine or whenever you want to put it out.

30:14 I think it's fine. Like Dr. said, people are just consuming so differently now and there is no must see TV. Yeah. Thank you, Alex. Appreciate that. Yeah, I think that it always depends on your show and what your audience like. I mean, everybody's really shared that so far. It's really what comes down to what your audience prefers. And I think when you're doing time sensitive material being first, no matter what day and time it is, I think that's a very valuable point. Which I think is. Really ironic because you know, when I first started coming in this room, we really have, you know, doing review shows are completely different or like Chris said, sports.

30:54 It is just a completely different animal compared to all the other genre. You did a fantasy show, football show, which again is time sensitive in a sense, but you have to get it out either on Monday or Tuesday. I guess Wednesday would be the the latest you could do it. I guess that's the prime spot whenever they started to do their thing and and people are expecting it then. Yeah, thank you, Alex. Good point. OK, I want to keep things moving, and so let me do that. Let's go to the next story here, the big milestone for Patreon. For those of you not familiar, Patreon is more or less like a membership site. It's where you can host and share your content, digital content for a fee.

31:40 People pay a monthly fee for it and they've hit a big milestone. The CEO, Jack Conte says the platform has officially crossed a jaw-dropping milestone of over $10 billion paid out to creators since it launched in 2013. In an interview with Axios, Conti added that another 2 billion is expected to flow to creators in 2025. Patreon now boasts 100 million free users, with roughly 700,000 upgraded to or upgrading to paid memberships every month, fueling a total of 25,000,000 active paid memberships. And podcasters are cashing in big. Last year alone, they collectively earned $472 million from 6.7 million paid subscribers. Not bad for a platform once dismissed as a digital tip jar. It's come a long way.

32:38 By the way, just real quick, the results of our live poll here. What time of day do you post new episodes? 100% said morning up. Just as I said it, somebody changed the results on me. 92% post in the morning. One person says late night. So that's yeah, there you go. And I did see in the chat that Yvonne said she posts she's an oddball and posts late night. So maybe that was Yvonne's vote. When I can get the editing done, How about that? Yeah. Right now, I'm sure that's a common answer as well, Alex. OK, some other news. I'm going to rifle through a few of these here.

33:20 Big moves at North North Flow. I share this because our friend Simona Costantini, who was supposed to join us this morning, but I know she also said she had an early client call. She's one of the founders of North Flow, which is basically a workflow management tool for creators, podcast podcasters and the Content Planning platform just brought on three strategic advisors to help sharpen their road map and double down on tools built for agencies and creators. We're talking about podcasts. Hall of Famer Daniel J Lewis, content strategist and friend of mine and of our community, Anna Xavier and pod news editor James Cridlin. Those are some serious brains in the room. And if, like I said, if you're not familiar with N Flow yet, it launched back in January, it's already gaining traction. And the cool part, as I said, we have a connection to it with Simona Costantini.

34:21 So check out N Flow if you're interested. They are really trying to do some big things over there and we love supporting fellow community members. And if you've heard of an independent podcast going corporate, that's pretty common. But here's a podcast that went from corporate to independent Brains on breaks free beloved kids podcast goes indie after APM sell off. American Public Media has handed off its hit kids podcast Brains On, along with its companion shows and business to the show's original creator, Molly Bloom. Mark Sanchez.

35:02 I should say creators Molly Bloom, Mark Sanchez and Satan Totten. The move comes amid financial strain at 8:00 PM. Now fully independent, the brains on Universe will rely on listener support through subscriptions and donations. Maybe they're using Patreon, You never know. Fans won't have to wait long. New episodes drop later this month, with live events returning in Chicago. So have we come up with the name, the word for opposite of? I know it says corporate here, but I just wrote that because I didn't know what else to put in. What is the opposite when it comes to an independent podcast? What would be the opposite of that?

35:43 I think. I think. Corporate, no, we didn't. I remember we yes, we were having that conversation. And I think corporate works well for me. I know it's not perfect and you could even split it out into more categories, corporate network podcast, independent podcast. I think they're probably a a handful of labels that we could put on certain types of podcasters and Dr. you want to take story number six? This is the one of the big headlines. Netflix and Spotify have teamed up and I think this is an important one to dig into. Absolutely. So video podcasts are coming to your TV in 2026. So thanks to Simona for sharing the story with us. Spotify and Netflix have struck a deal to bring a curated slate of Spotify video podcast.

36:34 Gee, I wonder what that could be. Joe Robin to Netflix starting early 2026. From sports to true crime, the partnership could rewrite where and how we watch podcasts and who wins attention in the streaming wards. I will. I will jump ahead for you, Dr., to say that currently Joe Rogan is not part of this deal. Currently, well, technically anyone can be. Anyone who's on YouTube can be on your TV. True. And this is specific to a streaming TV service. So I think that's why they're kind of, that's why this article is kind of packaging it as such. So here are some key points.

37:18 Netflix will begin streaming Select Video podcast from Spotify and The Ringer on its platform. Launching in the US in early 2026, the deal includes shows like The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Rewatchables, Conspiracy Theories, The Zach Lowe Show, and more across sports, culture, lifestyle, and true Prime. The Joe Rogan Experience, despite being Spotify's most listened show, is not part of the deal, at least not in this initial slate. My thought there is Dr. that it's, it's not part of the joke. Well, yeah. And it's probably not in his contract. There's something that probably says they can't do something like this either without his permission or a change in his contract.

38:07 So my guess is they're probably working behind the scenes to see if they can make that happen. I'm sure Netflix would love to have the Joe Rogan Experience on their streaming platform. Joe is just singing the money song in his head all day long. Yeah. The video podcast offering will be available on both Netflix and Spotify. Not as Netflix exclusives though. The video versions will be pulled from YouTube. The move signals Netflix's intention to diversify into non scripted, conversational and quote UN quote creator driven formats as an extension of its content ecosystem.

38:51 For Spotify, this is part of a broader video push growing its video podcast catalog, monetization tools and discovery mechanisms. The deal remains relatively opaque. Opaque, yeah, in terms of financials, revenue splits and AD models, especially how advertising will translate across platforms. And global Expansion is planned beyond the US, and additional podcast titles are likely to join over time. Thank you, Dr. Let's Alex has something. So yeah, let's go to Alex. This is actually a great move for Netflix. I agree.

39:35 They're gonna make a lot of the money out of this. I mean, and, and I just think that when you look at the genres that they talked about, I'm just thinking about the kids podcasts. They're gonna. Go through the roof. I mean, it's not that they already have it, but like kids, Netflix is its own animal. And there's going to be some new stars that are going to be created and there's going to be people that didn't have a lot of money that are going to be making a lot of money, I think. And just because people are creatures of habit. And I can't wait to hear that Disney Plus is going to get into the game, if they haven't already.

40:15 And you know, this is going to be the next war on streaming, I think. Yeah, I I think you're right. I think we will see other streaming platforms start to do the same thing, especially if this becomes successful for Netflix. And I agree with Alex, I think this is going to both both help new podcasters or new to maybe the mass masses out there. And I also think it's going to help existing podcasts in a in a way that they hadn't expected. I think that this is going to, again, it's just going to get the word out to more people. More people will be exposed to these podcasts. And yes, they are in these cases, all name podcasts. And I think it just means they're going to find more success.

41:00 At least some of them will for sure. And yeah, I think that this could be huge with podcasts for kids because I, I, I mean, I know at least in my own circles and my own experiences, kids can navigate around Netflix no problem. And when they start stumbling on podcasts for themselves, I think that will, yeah, that will really catapult this category on Netflix. Yeah. Matt, did you want to say something? Just two thoughts I have that the intuitive answer that I have for this is that it's not going to make a big difference. It's ever since Star over CEO planted himself in a cinema and I heard 28 people bought tickets in London. I'm not sure if it was the Odeon or wherever it was, but trying to move podcasts off the current platform intuitively to me I don't think it's going to work.

41:51 What I do enjoy thinking about is the idea of established platforms with memberships creating space for to create opportunities for people to monetize more easily if the opportunity is there. And I so for example, I see this Netflix opportunity for what they're testing. The end stage could be something like what Alex and Philippo is doing with his podcast network. He's laying the groundwork in the wrong way for people to join the network and monetize with the performance they get with as little administrative and labour intensive overhead as possible. I can see Netflix, if this works in a couple of years, creating the Netflix app the same way they've had Netflix games that you install on your device.

42:42 There's a set of things you can do, you can access on your phone just like a regular podcast app, and it does the job. But the other side of this is that we are pivoting. If that happens, it's a pivot again into a different redefinition of what podcasting is and where it should live. And I mean, Patreon gets a pass this time. I don't know how far this could possibly go, but you know, that's the intuition and that's the the cognition sides of what I think about this. But see, the way I look at it, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to jump get filled, but I'm doing it anyways because he's nice and he's from Canada.

43:24 So it doesn't matter. What I was going to say, Matt, is I think what you're saying, I just know with the way my daughter absorbs content, if you have the right show on Netflix, it's going to go through the roof and and you get the right kids show. And I'm just using that because that's the one I'm at right this second. I mean, the dumbest show in the world is the Cake is a humongous hit and everybody knows that. Who has kids? I hear what you're saying. Miss Rachel is someone I'm aware of too, and I couldn't stand that. So dumb that it's. Awesome. Right. And that's my point is I think that, you know, the difference between what you were saying about Diary's CEO is this is going back to what Dr. said, it has to do with convenience. It's must see TV and you don't have to do any work for it because it's on Netflix.

44:21 It's a friend. And I think that's what that's the difference between doing a live versus anything else all you're doing. I mean, yeah, it's just another platform, but I it's a comfortable platform. And so just very quickly before Phil jumps in. Before Phil tells us. My response to that is that the the the stage to think about practically what I'm suggesting here is what you're talking about. Like it has to be the thing that's going to capture attention. If three people watch it on a Netflix membership, they're probably going to either boot it off or not give it the opportunity to make it there. So it's going to be the shows that either have to pay to play or the ones that have enough credibility behind them that Netflix will make them an offer. And I think this is where it's starting to blend, funnily enough, looping back to Dr.

45:10 talking about standard television, the kind of gatekeeping that TV has or had back in the day where only the stuff that people were going to watch would make it as far. And a very few people had the opportunity to decide what would get there. And they had the ways to Rd. test that. They can beta test it, you know. But sorry, Phil, you're very comfortably and apologetically sitting there waiting for your chance. I'm just a friendly Canadian. I'm sorry that I have to eat last to come on. So what everybody's saying is, so it's just another platform, but streaming platforms have been doing this for a while. I got reached out last year by a company called Binge Network. They have their own streaming platform, but they also access as a broker to the big time platform. So you're talking Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, all the all these big time platforms that streaming platforms out there, TV as well.

46:11 They ask if they act as the broker and there are a lot of platforms looking for content because we are all content creators. We are all creators of something that people love. So if you're doing video or audio, they'll actually work to get your your podcasts on platforms and get you paid. So this has been going on for quite some time that the stream platforms, they are desperate for content. So I see this is no different than them going Amazon asking Mr. Beasts to make the Beast games. This is just them looking for content because they can't create content enough.

46:54 So they're looking for content that's already created that they can just easily buy at a cheap, cheap premium. And they'll test to see whether or not the big one, if they actually make money. That's why they're going with the big guys and girls who already have a name because they're like, oh, people will watch it because there is a name instead of it's the audience that actually dictates it. And the reason why these podcasts are so big is because of the audience. And if the audience is like, no, I, I listen to the show on my phone on Apple Podcasts, they're going to stay there. It's only if they're only going to get a capture a few new people, because I think most of the listeners are already locked in on the platform of their choice. So you're going to get the 123 percent that may not be aware of these podcasts.

47:45 All right, I was going to comment, but I'm going to let Matt do it because I just saw his hand go up. Go ahead, Matt. I was just going to ask, did was it mentioned that they were going to remove content on free platforms to only make it available on Netflix in? Full. I don't think so. I don't think they're doing that from what I read I read. That somewhere, but let's be fair, who knows what kind of news outlet decides to put which thing in it, how accurate it is. But that would be a thing too. Like if all of a sudden Apple Podcasts becomes Eclipse channel, Eclipse platform to decide what you're going to watch on Netflix, that that could be a really interesting kind of dystopian end game for podcast platforms. Just just as a a comment on what you said there, Phil. Well, if, if Apple does that or if any major platform does that, that podcaster is no longer in my rotation. If I have to pay to listen to the actual full episode, you're unless it's something that I've been supporting for a long time, there's a good chance that you get out of my rotation. Podcasting is meant to be free to listen. That's what we built this plot for this, this thing was built. Podcasting was built on the free premium model. Like yes, you get the episodes for free, but you want extra. You can pay for extra, but the episodes were always meant to be free.

49:08 So if anybody's putting their stuff behind a pay ball, there's a chance that I'm going to, they're going to lose audiences and it's all the, it's just like Netflix lifting up the prices every like 6 months or a year. They're going to lose some audience, but they're going to probably make back what they lost. So it all depends. I'm not someone who's big on siloing content. You should be like omnipresent everywhere. Let's push it even further. I wrote in the comments in the chat, sorry Mark, this might be going a little bit. Go ahead. I said this is a great opportunity for a new kind of job position in podcasting where someone or a company or a new kind of agency can represent podcasters to distribute their content on streaming platforms.

49:55 Just like you said, the binge networks thing, If that's the the case, then maybe the podcast mogul, the podcast with an established audience says, hey, I can license my content wherever I want. I own it. And all of a sudden, funnily enough, Binge and Stan and Foxtel in Australia can option it. You've got Netflix, you've got Hulu, you've got Roku, you've got Crave in Canada. Ha ha. I watch Z and Letterkenny like there's so many places that you can option the content and all of a sudden it becomes a multi stream opportunity for podcasters to make even more money on their content. Now what how the platforms distribute. That could be the other interesting thing too. My other picture to you was going to be OK. Now we have Netflix freemium, the Netflix pod app where you get the occasional ad.

50:48 Podcasters get paid for the number of views and retention time they get based on some weird formulaic way that they stooge the podcaster. But move on from that if that's a possibility because they're going to get the most people if there's a freemium model like you said, and if people don't feel like they're missing out and they become a Netflix customer, that's a way to avoid the in avoiding language in poopification stage that they're currently at. And to expand even further into other applications, I'm not going to say the other one, just in case there's no explicit on on this podcast when it. We don't want to give Ashley extra work to do. I was going to say, maybe we will. Ashley wants to consider this the title of today's episode. Poopify.

51:31 Netflix, What comes next? Yeah. Anyway, there's just, there's so many levels to this film that all the all the things you're talking about, they will address them through the economy and the supply and demand cycle. And it's just how capitalism works. So we'll just have to see how this experiment goes and and figure out what we're going to do all the way down here in independent land and try to figure things out. I was just going to agree with Matt on your points. Like, yeah, it is kind of like the pupilification of everything. And I think us independents are getting screwed because we see the what the big cats are doing and we think we need to do the exact same. And I think the platforms are going to take advantage of it.

52:13 We do need I, I love the idea of someone being a representation, A representer to the brands, to the, the streaming platforms and taking care of podcasters, like looking out for podcasters first. So I love that idea. I wear that's something I may look into. But I, I do love the shadow to crave. So I thank you very much for that, Matthew, for giving that the Canadian streaming platform some love. So thank you for that. I think that thank you both for that conversation and for me on my short version, would I think about all this? I think it only helps podcasting in the sense that it's going to expose podcasting to more people. Yes, I know it's going to only expose a certain kind of podcast, it's going to expose only certain names perhaps etcetera.

53:04 But I think that it's, I love the idea of a mainstream platform putting podcasting out there to more people who really may have never heard of podcasting. Yes, there are still people like that. And the ones that have have heard of it maybe just don't really get it and don't understand. And this will at least give them a taste, give them the exposure and help podcasting long term, in my opinion. Dr. Did you want to add something? Phil mentioned the word representation, and that brings in unionized, does it not? Which is something that podcasters talked about a long time ago and it kind of fizzled out. But now, with new platforms popping up, unionization might also pop back up.

53:56 Yes, interesting. So to be continued, I suppose, as we'll see how this all works out and we will, I'm sure, talk more about it in 2026 when Netflix releases podcasts on their platform. Also, by the way, I want to just remind everybody, if you are interested in learning or hearing more about this past Empowered Podcasting conference we had at the end of September, Yvonne has a whole episode out coming out today. The Late Bloomer Living Podcast is recapping her experience at the conference and you can check that out at Late Bloomer living.com/blog slash episode Dash 245 or just go to latebloomerliving.com and search for episode 245 over there. We, I am excited to hear it.

54:48 Yvonne, thanks for the heads up. We will go check that out and I will also let you know that tomorrow we will be covering more headlines because we have a ton of stories that we think would be of interest to you that we have not gotten to yet. So we will do more of this tomorrow on the Podcasting morning chat. You can pick up oldepisodesorheartodaysepisode@podpage.com/PMC. Come join us over there as well. And until tomorrow, make it a great day. Everybody take care.