Spotify CEO Daniel Ek Says Company Will Be “Very Diligent” In Assessing Further Podcast Investments As Talent Deal Renewals Loom
deadline.comSpotify CEO Daniel Ek says the streaming audio giant is going to be “very diligent” in assessing future investments in podcasting as several of the company’s rich talent deals come up for renewal.
Speaking on the company’s first-quarter earnings call, Ek responded to a question from a Wall Street analyst wondering about the plans for potentially pricey renewals this year and next.
During the period when Dawn Ostroff was spearheading content, Spotify spent more than $1 billion acquiring podcast assets and locking up exclusive deals with the likes of Joe Rogan and Dax Shepard.
Ostroff left the company earlier this year, and her responsibilities have been taken on by Alex Nörstrom, the exec whose specialty has been the free, ad-supported side of the business. “You’re right in calling out the overpaying and over-investing and I can start off by saying that we’re not going to do that,” Ek said. “We’re going to be very diligent in how we invest in future content deals and the ones that are performing we will renew and the ones that aren’t performing, we’ll obviously look at them on a case by case basis on the relative value.
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