Jay Shetty and his globally successful podcast On Purpose have partnered with Spotify and Netflix in a deal reportedly worth around $100 million. The audio and video of the show will be available across both platforms from July 13.
There are several factors to this partnership which make it groundbreaking for podcasts.
The first is the pairing of two rival platforms for whom this will be the first time working collaboratively together. Bestselling author and former monk Shetty tours his culture, wellness, and personal growth message internationally and has recorded conversations with the most extraordinary array of people, from Madonna who hadn’t done a public interview for around a decade to experts in the health and wellbeing space. On Purpose has had more than a billion listens.
Shetty said of the deal:
“This is a historic moment, not just for On Purpose but for podcasting itself. We’re entering a new era where interviews can impact culture as powerfully as movies, music, and television on the global stage.”
You can see the scope for all concerned, with one further key ingredient. On Purpose from July 13 will no longer be freely available on YouTube.
Currently Shetty has more than 2000 videos available on YouTube with certain episodes, Hayden Panettiere the first that I opened, having more than a million views. He has 5.65 million subscribers on the platform too.
These, presumably, will be removed and his fans will shift over either to Netflix, to Spotify, or to both. Those of us who already subscribe to those will feel like we have gotten something extra for ‘free’ perhaps – not realising that the YouTube access, that was freer for lack of a better word, bar the associated advertising we would have to watch, is no more.
Shetty isn’t the first to do this but is the biggest brand so far for Australian podcast enthusiasts to remove their product from YouTube.
The play is from Spotify and Netflix to impact that growing audience of podcast watchers. If the numbers continue to stack up for Shetty et al, this is likely the start of a new podcast phase, still offering video and other social content, just on a paid subscriber platform or platforms that is NOT YouTube.
Image: Jay Shetty arrives at The Roast of Kevin Hart held at The Kia Forum in Inglewood, CA on Sunday, May 10, 2026. (Photo By Juan Pablo Rico/Sipa USA – licenced for Radioinfo from Reuters)
Jen Seyderhelm is a writer, editor and podcaster for Radioinfo. Email: [email protected]. You can subscribe to this publication for just $199 per annum (less for community stations, students and pensioners) and support local media. Celebrate Radioinfo in its 30th year.