Netflix is paying out meaningful sums of money in its ongoing push to entice creators to migrate the video forms of their podcasts from YouTube to the subscription streaming platform.
Netflix’s deal with Barstool Sports, announced Wednesday, is a multiyear pact worth “in the eight figures” a year, Front Office Sports has learned. A Netflix spokesperson declined to comment, as did Barstool founder Dave Portnoy.
As FOS reported, Netflix’s deal with Barstool encompasses the exclusive video streaming rights for Pardon My Take, The Ryen Russillo Show, and Spittin’ Chiclets—three of the most popular sports podcasts not only on Barstool but also in the whole industry.
This comes after Netflix previously announced deals with Spotify (including The Ringer’s Bill Simmons Podcast) and iHeart (including popular entertainment programming like The Breakfast Club and content from Colin Cowherd’s Volume network, such as 3 and Out with John Middlekauff).
And Netflix may not be finished with this broader push. Sources told FOS that Fanatics has pitched WWE studio programming to the streaming service. Fanatics and WWE have already collaborated on several shows, including ones hosted by The Undertaker, Stephanie McMahon, Cody Rhodes, and Logan Paul. It was not immediately known if Fanatics pitched its existing shows and/or new ones to Netflix, but sources have told FOS that Fanatics and WWE plan to expand their partnership with more content offerings in the future, and have recently vetted talent for new programming. Netflix airs WWE Raw on Monday nights, and Fanatics also handles WWE’s merchandising and collectibles businesses.
Spokespeople for Fanatics, WWE, and Netflix declined to comment.
In all of the podcast deals that have been announced, the audio forms of the podcasts will remain free on platforms like Apple and Spotify.
Nevertheless, YouTube benefits from listeners’ podcast consumption habits. Bloomberg reports that people watched more than 700 million hours of podcasts on YouTube in October alone—more than double the same period last year. This viewership can come in many forms, whether it’s on your phone in transit or watching them on a smart TV in lieu of traditional programming.
Not only is YouTube known for paying creators more money for their viewership than social media networks, it is also a form of discoverability through its sophisticated algorithm. Viewers who would perhaps only occasionally watch Pardon My Take or Bill Simmons are fed clips on YouTube automatically at the conclusion of what they were previously watching.
Whether some of these shows can transcend a paywall is certainly a risk, but they remain free on audio platforms and are guaranteed a lot of money up front to make the leap. While we won’t know for a while if Netflix can evolve into a major hub for podcast consumption like YouTube has, it’s not like these hosts are being banished to Siberia. As of the fourth quarter of 2024, there were nearly 90 million Netflix subscribers in the United States and Canada. There are about 300 million globally.
For Barstool, this is at least the third massive deal that Portnoy has pulled off since acquiring the company back from Penn Entertainment for $1 in 2023. After its gambling noncompete expired, Barstool signed with DraftKings as its official gambling sponsor. Earlier this year, Barstool entered into a wide-ranging partnership with Fox Sports, including Wake Up Barstool on FS1 and Portnoy on Big Noon Kickoff.
