Spotify is taking a page out of Netflix‘s marketing book.
And by that, we mean it’s promoting itself by bad-mouthing YouTube.
In 2020, Spotify paid a reported $250 million cash to acquire The Ringer, a sports and pop culture podcast network founded by Bill Simmons. Simmons went on to become Spotify’s Head of Talk Strategy, and last March renewed his contract with the company.
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Then, last October, Spotify announced that it and The Ringer had signed a deal with Netflix to bring some of The Ringer’s video podcasts to Netflix’s platform–shows including The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Zach Lowe Show, The McShay Show, The Rewatchables, and Conspiracy Theories. They began airing on Netflix last month.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, the goal with this deal is for The Ringer’s shows reach a broader audience on Netflix and convince them to follow the program over to Spotify. As such, shows that are part of the deal will continue to air in full and in video on Spotify as well as Netflix.
But you know where they won’t be airing anymore?
YouTube.
Netflix, Spotify, and The Ringer’s agreement mandates that shows airing on Netflix will not air on YouTube. This is an interesting decision, considering Spotify used to hand out big checks for podcast exclusivity–like with its $100 million Joe Rogan deal and its $60 million Alex Cooper deal–but later quit that model due to high upfront costs and creators wanting distribution elsewhere.
Simmons makes it clear, though, that he doesn’t want The Ringer’s podcasts (at least, not the ones Netflix is willing to pay for) on YouTube.
“With YouTube, you’re trading off something for something every time, but Netflix actually cares about having us on the platform. They’re promoting us. We’re working with them. We’re innovating with them,” he told THR. “YouTube has kind of this attitude, like, ‘You’re lucky to be on YouTube,’ which congrats to them, but I’m not sure how long that’s sustainable.”
Well, apparently it’s sustainable for at least 20 years.
Geoff Chow, The Ringer’s Managing Director, had a softer take on YouTube vs Spotify and Netflix, saying, “I don’t think it’s a one-to-one competition. I think we can grow the pie everywhere.”
(Chow also told THR that Spotify/The Ringer and Netflix have come to a “financial agreement that’s beneficial to everyone,” but didn’t say exactly how things will work. What we do know is Netflix won’t run new ads on these shows, and will keep past sponsored spots baked in.)
Simmons’ remarks about YouTube echo what Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in the past: that YouTube is just a place to “kill time,” while Netflix is the real home of premium content from storytellers. The vibe from Sarandos’s comments was that Netflix did not believe YouTube deserved to be such a major competitor.
Netflix’s tune, however, has changed a bit in the past few months. First it leaned on YouTube to defend its pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, pointing out that even if the buy does successfully close, YouTube will still have more watch time than the streaming services it’ll own, combined (meaning it can’t possibly cross antitrust laws). Then, during its most recent earnings call, Sarandos said YouTube is setting the standard for modern television.
“YouTube is not just UGC and cat videos anymore. YouTube has full-length films, new episodes of scripted and unscripted TV shows. They have NFL football games. They have the Oscars. The BBC is going to be producing original content for YouTube soon. They are TV,” he told investors. “So we all compete with them in every dimension, for talent, for ad dollars, for subscription dollars, and for all forms of content.”
YouTube is also competing with Netflix for video podcasts–and by sheer numbers is winning there, too. As of this time last year, YouTube had over 1 billion viewers tuning into at least one video podcast per month. Spotify, meanwhile, said that more than 390 million users had streamed a video podcast on its service as of Q3 2025.
It’s worth noting that as all this is happening, Netflix is still poaching YouTube talent to make content for its platform. Its most recent snag: father-daughter team Jordan and Salish Matter, who announced they’ll develop exclusive scripted, unscripted, and animated projects for the streamer.
