Spotify has grown its podcast base by acquiring companies like Gimlet Media, Anchor, Parcast, Megaphone, and The Ringer while also striking exclusive deals with celebrities such as Joe Rogan, Kim Kardashian, former President Barack Obama, and Michelle Obama.
Such originals and exclusives accounted for 21.7% of total time that people in the US spent listening to podcasts on Spotify, according to a September 2020 Spotify newsletter obtained by Insider. (Whereas, on a global level, originals and exclusives accounted for 18.7% of total time spent with podcasts.)