SiriusXM signed a multi-year agreement with podcast star Alex Cooper that will give the company exclusive advertising and distribution rights to Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast as well as other titles under Unwell Audio Network, a production house she founded in 2023.
Cooper became a leading Gen Z media figure when Call Her Daddy launched on Barstool Sports in 2018. Spotify signed Cooper in 2021 to a deal reported to be worth $60 million over three years but has since backed away from expensive, exclusive podcast deals. SiriusXM swept in with a deal worth up to $125 million over more than three years, according to Variety.
“Alex’s fearless, unfiltered approach, where no topic is off the table, has created a passionate and dedicated fanbase that is unmatched in podcasting and perfectly aligns with the content that SiriusXM subscribers have come to love and expect from us,” Scott Greenstein, president/chief content officer at SiriusXM said in a statement. “SiriusXM is the perfect home for Alex to continue her amazing growth trajectory, with our unique ability to introduce her and her growing roster of standout talent to new listeners, as well as super-serve her core fans with new content. Alex is the voice of a new generation, and I can’t wait to see what we do together in the years to come.”
SiriusXM, born from the 2008 merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, is betting the new streaming app will help reach a new audience at a time it is experiencing losses in satellite customers. The company acquired Conan O’Brien’s network, Team Coco, in 2022. And in January, it lured SmartLess Media, producer of the popular Smartless podcast, away from Amazon-owned Wondery. Other podcasts in its roster are Crime Junkie, Pod Save America and 99% Invisible.
Priced at $9.99 per month, the SiriusXM streaming app is intended to appeal to a younger audience than the more expensive satellite radio service that is heard primarily in automobiles. “Ultimately, we want customers to be able to listen on the device of their choice, so we are repositioning our business for the future,” CEO Jennifer Witz said during the company’s Aug. 1 earnings call. Witz admitted that adoption of the streaming app, launched in December, is lighter than expected but said “our streaming metrics are getting better quarter over quarter.”
