More than one billion people have listened to a podcast on Spotify since it launched podcasts in 2019, Spotify told Entrepreneur on Monday in an email. The streaming giant also revealed for the first time that the company has paid more than $100 million to podcast publishers and podcasters globally since the start of the year.

Spotify has paid over $100 million to podcast creators and publishers since January as part of a 2025 initiative to challenge YouTube’s dominance in video podcasting, according to The New York Times's DealBook.

The audio platform has branched out to video and has given its podcasters a raise as the war for creator talent heats up.