Joe Rogan Left Out When Spotify CEO Daniel Elk Brags About ‘World’s Most Popular Talent’ Jumping on the Platform

Spotify hosted its annual Investor Day event on Wednesday, where the company’s leaders peeled back the curtain on how its biggest investments are paving the way for the future.

But as Spotify CEO Daniel Elk boasted about the top talent that has been acquired over the last few years, a huge name was missing — Joe Rogan.

“We made big acquisitions, starting with Anchor and Gimlet, but then followed by others, including The Ringer and Parcast,” Elk said as he listed all the podcast networks bought by the company.

He continued, “We’ve invested to bringing some of the world’s most popular talent and most iconic franchises exclusively to our platform. And we have continued to differentiate ourselves through our own programming.”

Flashing on the screen behind him was a graphic that included top Spotify acquisitions including Call Her Daddy which was purchased in 2021 for $60 million dollars.

Armchair Expert, hosted by Dax Shepard was also featured on the screen. The show signed with Spotify in a three-year licensing deal in May of 2021.

Others featured on the screen included politics and culture podcast, Jemele Hill is Unbothered, DC Comic’s re-imagination of the popular Batman series, Batman Unburied, and a German political and cultural podcast Fest & Flauschig.

The elephant in the room, or shall we say not in the room, was podcast giant Rogan. His show The Joe Rogan Experience was purchased by Spotify in a landmark $200 million dollar deal in May 2020.

According to Newsweek, Rogan attracts an estimated 11 million listeners per episode and the amount has only increased since becoming exclusive to Spotify.

While there was no acknowledgment of Rogan, there is no doubt his show has helped shape the role of podcasting at Spotify and across the industry.

In Wednesday’s address, Elk said “all of these investments have resulted in user growth retention and increased engagement with overall consumption hours, reaching all-time highs quarter after quarter.”

It’s unclear as to why he was left off the presentation, but one could suspect that his previous controversy regarding personal COVID viewpoints shared on his podcast, could be a reason.

Listen above via Spotify Investor Day 2022.

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