Netflix is poaching YouTube‘s podcast business.
In case you’ve missed it, Netflix is mighty discontent with YouTube these days. Why? Because Google’s video platform is dominating Nielsen‘s streamer watch time charts. Those charts used to be for Netflix, Max, Hulu, etc–the big, deluxe-production services that pour millions into making original series like Stranger Things.
But in 2023, Nielsen began counting YouTube, with its lifeblood trove of UGC content, as a streaming service. As a result, for the last almost three years running, YouTube has been the #1 streaming service in the U.S. by sheer watch time. And Netflix (especially co-CEO Tod Sarandos) is not happy about that.
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YouTube got a slight break earlier this month, when Netflix cited its dominance to defend the proposed Netflix x Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition. Netflix’s defense boiled down to, But look! YouTube is so powerful we couldn’t catch it even if we did do one little merger that will absorb one of the single largest entities in Hollywood! (We’ll see how that goes over with regulators.)
Apparently, though, Netflix is just overall feeling the takeover mood, because this week, it announced separate but similar video podcast deals with Barstool Sports and iHeartMedia that will pull new episoeds of shows like My Favorite Murder, The Breakfast Club, Bobby Bones Presents: The Bobbycast, Pardon My Take, The Ryen Russillo Podcast, and Spittin’ Chiclets off YouTube and take them exclusively to Netflix.
Both deals center around new episodes of the shows. Those will go to Netflix, along with “select” older episodes. The rest of the series’ catalogs will remain on YouTube.
The Barstool deal is multiyear, and covers video versions of new episodes from Pardon My Take, The Ryen Russillo Podcast, and Spittin’ Chiclets. Audio versions of episodes will continue to go out across platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
“We’re thrilled to team up with Barstool Sports and bring their top video podcasts to Netflix,” Lauren Smith, Netflix’s VP of Content Licensing and Programming Strategy, said in a statement. “This partnership broadens how our members connect with Barstool’s leading sports voices and delivers exactly what our members crave: unfiltered commentary, sharp takes and undeniable humor. We look forward to giving fans another exciting way to engage with the conversations they love on Netflix.”
In its deal with iHeartRadio, Netflix snags video rights for new episodes of more than 15 shows, including aforementioned The Breakfast Club and true crime show My Favorite Murder, as well as Joe and Jada, Chelsea Handler‘s Dear Chelsea, The Psychology of Your 20s, and This Is Important, hosted by Adam Devine, Anders Holm, and Blake Anderson.
“Audio podcasting has been the fastest-growing medium over the past 20 years, and now we’re thrilled to expand that experience with an exciting new category–video podcasts,” Bob Pittman, CEO of iHeartMedia, said in a statement. “Netflix has a leading video-first service, and this partnership perfectly complements our strong audio foundation. Working with Netflix—an important leader in entertainment—gives fans one more way to connect with the personalities they love and opens the door to new audiences, including viewers discovering these shows for the first time.”
As video podcasts grew in the lockdown and post-lockdown years, YouTube and Spotify emerged as top destinations–but these deals prove Netflix wants to make a splashy entrance into the domain. It didn’t just pick up a couple shows–it picked up major producers whose series are among the top-watched on YouTube and elsewhere. It’s going big, and that might pay off for it. We’ll find out when these shows hit its library in 2026.
