Spotify is announcing today (independent of the IAB Podcast Upfront which runs this week) that Armchair Expert, the chatcast interview show hosted by actor Dax Shepard, is moving to the platform for exclusive distribution. At the same time there is a “first look” development deal which extends to Shepard’s Armchair Umbrella Network.
Armchair Expert is a weekly show featuring in-depth interviews with celebrities, artists, authors and global thought-leaders. It lives in the Comedy category in the same mold as The Joe Rogan Experience (also a Spotify exclusive) and WTF with Marc Maron. Recent guests on Shepard’s show have included John Legend, Bill Gates, Salma Hayek, Shawn Mendes, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Tom Brady, Leslie Odom Jr., Matthew McConaughey, Dr. Jane Goodall, Malcolm Gladwell, Alicia Keys, Hillary Clinton and Kristen Bell (Shepard’s wife.)
The press release from Spotify carefully makes this note: “With this Spotify partnership, Dax Shepard will continue to maintain editorial oversight and creative control of all Armchair productions.”
“Moving to Spotify is a huge opportunity for us. I am especially grateful for the work Monica and Rob have done to get us to this point. We are all bathing in the excitement of knowing we will get to do what we love most for the next three years,” said Dax Shepard.
“We’re thrilled to be entering into an exclusive licensing deal with Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, one of the most beloved and popular podcasts not only on Spotify, but across all platforms. Dax and Monica’s kindred way of engaging their listeners with conversations so honest, authentic and poignant are why listeners come back to them every week. The variety of guests featured each week are both entertaining and intriguing, making it a can’t-miss show for the millions of Spotify listeners around the world,” said Dawn Ostroff, Chief Content & Advertising Business Officer. “We made it no secret that we wanted to bring some of the world’s most respected podcasts and dynamic creators to Spotify exclusively, and we are very excited to add Armchair Expert, alongside it’s hugely loyal global following of dedicated fans, to our diverse catalogue of phenomenal podcasts.”
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