SmartLess is leaving Amazon for $100 million

SiriusXM has inked a multiyear cope with SmartLess Media for unique rights across the flagship podcast hosted by Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes in addition to various different SmartLess reveals. The three-year deal value the satellite tv for pc radio large a complete of $100 million, nameless sources informed Bloomberg, and brings the favored hosts into SiriusXM’s celebrity-packed roster, which incorporates Howard Stern, Kevin Hart, and Conan O’Brien.

This additionally implies that the flagship SmartLess podcast and SmartLess Media will now not be below the wing of Amazon. In 2021, Amazon paid what Bloomberg reported was wherever between $60 and $80 million for unique rights to SmartLess and any future reveals developed by its podcast community. Under the deal, members of Amazon Music and Amazon-owned Wondery had entry to new episodes per week early, in addition to different unique content material.

SiriusXM members may even have early, ad-free entry to SmartLess, in addition to three different podcasts which are a part of the SmartLess Media podcast community: Just Jack & Jill, Bad Dates, and Owned. SiriusXM additionally features unique international advert gross sales rights to these podcasts. Just like below the present cope with Amazon, new podcast episodes will later be launched extensively on all podcast gamers. But it seems that SmartLess followers will now not have the ability to entry most older episodes for free on their participant of selection; the whole catalogs of the 4 SmartLess podcasts will solely be obtainable on SiriusXM.

“The majority of the ‘SmartLess’ library will be available exclusively to SiriusXM, making it the only destination for fans to access the podcast’s complete catalog,” SiriusXM wrote in its announcement.

Podcast exclusivity offers have fallen out of favor over the previous couple of years, although they have been definitely common for some time. But locking a podcast to a single service or platform typically results in a drop in viewers. Companies have since reversed course, generally opting for offers that safe perks like bonus or ad-free content material for their subscribers in lieu of complete exclusivity. Spotify final fall launched each the Spotify Original What Now? with Trevor Noah and the second season of the fiction podcast Case 63 extensively. Although SiriusXM paid $150 million to amass Conan O’Brien’s podcast firm TeamCoco, podcasts like Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend can be found extensively.

In the case of SiriusXM and SmartLess, unique entry to its whole podcast library is one further perk the satellite tv for pc radio large may give its subscribers with out fully limiting the present’s development. The SmartLess podcast regularly tops the podcast charts (it’s at present ranked #8 on Apple Podcasts and #27 on Spotify). Given that new episodes will proceed to be launched extensively, SmartLess will nonetheless have entry to the identical viewers, although it’ll lose the performs from followers listening to older episodes on different gamers. And it could faucet into a special viewers at SiriusXM, particularly on the brand new app it debuted final fall as a way to court docket youthful listeners.