By Gavin Boyle
Netflix is partnering with Barstool Sports to host three of the network’s most popular podcasts on the streaming service.
“We’re thrilled to team up with Barstool Sports and bring their top video podcasts to Netflix,” said Lauren Smith, Netflix VP of content licensing and programming strategy. “This partnership broadens how our members connect with Barstool’s leading sports voices and delivers exactly what our members crave: unfiltered commentary, sharp takes and undeniable humor. We look forward to giving fans another exciting way to engage with the conversations they love on Netflix.”
“We’re excited to partner with Netflix and hopefully bring new audiences to each platform,” added Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports.
View this post on InstagramRelated: Select Podcasts Come to Netflix in 2026, Thanks to Spotify Deal
The partnership with Barstool Sports comes shortly after Netflix announced a similar deal with iHeart Radio, which would make Netflix the exclusive host of the video versions of 15 of the company’s top podcasts. The shows coming to Netflix via iHeart Radio include “The Breakfast Club,” “My Favorite Murder,” “Dear Chelsea,” and “Bobby Bones Presents: The Bobbycast.”
While the deals with Barstool Sports and iHeart Radio both bring the video versions of the podcasts exclusively to Netflix, they still allow for the audio-only versions to be mass distributed across a variety of other listening platforms.
“With this partnership we are incredibly excited to offer our members such unmatched variety, and to deliver highly entertaining podcasts featuring some of the world’s most dynamic personalities,” Smith said about the iHeart Radio deal.
Many in the industry recognize the addition of podcasts to Netflix’s library as one of the streamer’s first steps at fighting back against YouTube’s dominance of the podcasting world. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos first floated the idea of adding podcasts to the platform during the company’s Q1 earnings call in April.
“As the popularity of video podcasts grow, I suspect you’ll see some of them find their way to Netflix,” Sarandos said at the time.
“We’re looking for the next generation of great creators, and we’re looking everywhere. So they’re not just in film schools, and certainly not just in Hollywood. Creators today have tools that were unimaginable a decade ago, you know, to tell stories, to reach audiences,” he added.
While podcasts are, by nature, a listening experience, their visual component has become increasingly important in recent years as podcasters have sought to further engage their audiences through platforms like YouTube. The popularity of some of these shows, like the “Joe Rogan Experience” prove that there is a market for the visual component of podcasting, though only time will tell how well this translates to Netflix, especially given that the streamer has never been associated with podcasting or content creation in general in the past.
These Netflix-exclusive podcast episodes will begin to release early next year.
Read Next: Quality Over Quantity: Netflix Reveals New Content Strategy
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
– Content: +2Share:
– Content: +2