By Andy Marston, Sports Pundit
Spotify and Netflix are teaming up in early 2026 to bring video podcasts from Spotify Studios and The Ringer to Netflix, starting in the U.S. and expanding globally.
The initial slate includes The Bill Simmons Podcast, The Rewatchables, The Mismatch, Fairway Rollin’, The Ringer NBA Show, Dissect, and Serial Killers - a blend of sports, culture, lifestyle, and true crime hits.
For Netflix, the deal expands its creator-led entertainment footprint without commissioning original series. It also further expands their sporting presence.
For Spotify, it unlocks new distribution, audience discovery, and revenue potential while retaining creator control.
This marks the first time Spotify video podcasts will stream off-platform, a move that immediately pulls full episodes from YouTube.
Why It Matters:
Where the first era of streaming was about exclusivity, the next is about strategic distribution. As Dizplai CEO Ed Abis noted this week:
“Streaming platforms are starting to look the same. Netflix, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon [Prime], each one is competing for attention, retention and cultural pull not solely subscriptions.”
This partnership is less about content and more about control. By pulling full episodes from YouTube and placing them on Netflix, Spotify is testing whether podcasts can occupy the same space as background TV - and, crucially, whether it can reclaim some of the viewing time that YouTube currently dominates.
Ultimately, it’s a reach play for Spotify that trades a little control (without going fully insular on owned platforms) for a much bigger window into where audiences actually watch.
For Netflix, it’s a low-cost test to see if video podcasts can keep people streaming
longer, another play for retention in an increasingly crowded attention economy.
Both companies are effectively experimenting with attention arbitrage. And there are important lessons here for rightsholders too: about balancing owned platforms with social reach, and recognising that the real value doesn’t just sit in the live rights, but in everything that surrounds them.
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