Video streaming platform Rumble said Monday it is offering comedian Joe Rogan a $100 million deal to leave his exclusive contract with Spotify and join its platform instead, aiming to entice him with a censorship-free experience.
Rumble, which has billed itself as a platform for free speech and is popular with conservatives, hopes to grow and diversify its consumer base by drawing in new users as it attempts to take on Big Tech companies such as YouTube, Amazon, and other content providers.
“We stand with you, your guests, and your legion of fans in desire for real conversation,” Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski said in an offer letter posted on Twitter. “So we’d like to offer you 100 million reasons to make the world a better place. How about you bring all your shows to Rumble, both old and new, with no censorship, for 100 million bucks over four years?”
“This is our chance to save the world. And yes, this is totally legit,” Pavlovski added.
Hey @joerogan, we are ready to fight alongside you. See the note from our CEO @chrispavlovski… pic.twitter.com/G7ahfNNjtP
— Rumble (@rumblevideo) February 7, 2022
Spotify has been dealing with controversy over Rogan’s podcast recently. The audio giant announced at the end of January that it would add content advisories to all of Rogan’s podcast episodes that deal with the coronavirus in response to intense criticism of Rogan for hosting scientists whom some government officials and liberal musicians alleged spread dangerous misinformation about the virus and the vaccine.
The controversy over Rogan has sent a signal that increased censorship is coming to podcasting platforms like Spotify, just as it has for social media sites, Republicans and conservatives say.
Spotify reportedly paid more than $100 million for a multiyear exclusive deal to stream Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, in 2020, in order to help boost its podcast division.
Rogan and Spotify have not commented on the Rumble offer.
Rumble has multiple sources of revenue, but its primary method of making money is through advertising, Pavlovski said in an interview last year with the Washington Examiner.
Conservative tech billionaire Peter Thiel and Ohio Republican J.D. Vance last year invested a large sum in Rumble, giving the website a boost.
Pavlovski said that the investment from Thiel and Vance was the first investment the company had received and that it had been forced to function on low margins for many years in order to stay afloat.
