Netflix Barstool Podcast Deal Pulls Sports Shows From YouTube

Netflix is paying eight figures a year to turn Barstool Sports' biggest video podcasts into Netflix exclusives, Front Office Sports reported. The multiyear Netflix Barstool podcast deal gives Netflix exclusive video streaming rights to Pardon My Take, The Ryen Russillo Show, and Spittin' Chiclets, three of the most popular sports podcasts in the industry. Neither a Netflix spokesperson nor Barstool founder Dave Portnoy commented to Front Office Sports about the terms.

The Netflix Barstool podcast deal shows the streaming giant wants a bigger piece of podcasting, specifically the video. For years, YouTube has been the default home for podcast video, a place where clips and full episodes live side by side and anyone can click through for free. That arrangement is now changing for some of the biggest shows in sports. The three Barstool programs will move their video distribution from YouTube to Netflix, with the switch reported to begin next month, according to Awful Announcing. Audio episodes stay put, remaining free on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, which Front Office Sports noted as the detail that keeps casual listeners unaffected. It also explains why the Netflix Barstool podcast deal is structured as video-only.

Portnoy announced the partnership on X, writing that the company was partnering with Netflix for "exclusive video podcasts" and framing the move as the next stage of Barstool's evolution across more than two decades. He has since pushed back on social media against criticism that the shows are "selling out" by leaving YouTube. According to Awful Announcing, Portnoy argued that the deal's money supports the broader Barstool operation, and pointed out that the show's hosts Big Cat and PFT Commenter stayed with Barstool after turning down bigger offers elsewhere.

YouTube's hold on podcast video is loosening

This is not Netflix's first swing at podcast video. The streamer previously announced deals with Spotify covering shows from The Ringer, including the Bill Simmons Podcast and the Zach Lowe Show, and with iHeart covering popular programming like The Breakfast Club plus content from Colin Cowherd's Volume network, such as Three and Out with John Middlekauff, Front Office Sports reported. Every one of those pacts follows the same logic: license established shows with built-in audiences instead of building new ones from scratch. For Netflix, acquiring proven hits is a direct challenge to YouTube's dominance in podcast video, and the Netflix Barstool podcast deal is the most aggressive entry yet.

The pattern extends beyond Barstool. Disney and Hulu have been doubling down on video podcasts, and YouTube itself has been offering creators its own deals to keep them on the platform. YouTube's own podcast deals could lock creators in with millions, which shows the platform is not giving up its position without a fight. What is new is that Netflix, a subscription service, is now competing on YouTube's terms: paying for personality-driven video that audiences already watch by the millions.

The question is whether audiences follow

The risk in the Netflix Barstool podcast deal is discovery. YouTube's algorithm and the absence of a paywall built these podcasts into what they are, and Pardon My Take clips routinely reach hundreds of thousands of viewers because anyone can share and click through. Netflix has a far larger subscriber base, but its discovery engine works differently, and a clip from a Netflix show does not travel the way a YouTube link does. As Awful Announcing put it, asking people to follow shows behind a subscription is a genuine test of how loyal audiences are to creators rather than to platforms.

Keeping the audio free on Spotify and Apple Podcasts softens that test. Listeners who never watched the video versions will notice nothing at all. The people who feel the change are the viewers who watched for free on YouTube, and the bet is that enough of them either already pay for Netflix or will see the move as a reason to start. The Netflix Barstool podcast deal is a bet the whole industry will be watching, because the outcome will shape the next round of deals for podcast video.

Portnoy, for his part, is on a run. Since reacquiring control of Barstool in twenty twenty three, he has landed major pacts with DraftKings and Fox Sports, and the Netflix Barstool podcast deal extends the streak. In a statement on the announcement, he said the company was excited to partner with Netflix and bring new audiences to each platform, according to reporting on the deal. For a media brand that started as a free Boston newspaper, selling exclusive video to the world's biggest streamer is quite the arc.

The shows in the Netflix Barstool podcast deal come with serious scale. WebProNews reported that the three programs together draw tens of millions of monthly downloads, and Pardon My Take alone has built an audience of more than a million subscribers on YouTube. That scale is what Netflix is buying: a ready-made audience it does not have to build. Netflix may not be finished shopping, either. Sources told Front Office Sports that Fanatics has pitched WWE studio programming to the streamer, building on earlier collaborations involving the Undertaker, Stephanie McMahon, Cody Rhodes, and Logan Paul. Netflix already airs WWE Raw on Monday nights, and Fanatics handles WWE's merchandising and collectibles businesses, so the relationship is established. Giggly Squad's reported one-hundred-forty-million-dollar SiriusXM deal showed the money is moving into podcasting fast; Netflix is now making sure some of it moves through Netflix.

The Netflix Barstool podcast deal is only the latest sign that podcast video has become the asset everyone bids on. A format that once sold host-read ads to mattress companies is now attracting eight-figure checks from the biggest streaming service on the planet, and creators are learning that their faces are worth almost as much as their voices. The next announcement will say a lot about how far this goes.