Why is Bill Simmons pushing YouTube and not Spotify Video? (Podcasting)

Is Bill Simmons heading for the exit?

I was listening to Bill Simmons on Monday and I noticed he said something like “we’ll keep it here on Youtube and take a break on the podcast.” Later in the show he did a clear (paraphrasing) “We’ll take a break on the podcast…..”

YouTube?

That’s weird, especially when I’m reading headlines about Spotify pushing into video. Wouldn’t Spotify want their biggest guy (or at least one of them) to push, you know, Spotify Video rather than the competitor they are trying to catch up to?

Bill’s contract with Spotify is reportedly up in early 2025. Bill’s a smart cookie who has made a lot of good bets on evolving media, and has also not been shy about calling out some of the less-wise things Spotify has done, like paying Meghan Markle.

I’ve mentioned this before, but if I listen to the Other Shows on The Ringer, I hear a lot of empty breaks. Bill has commented there are too many podcasts in the world, which presumably does not include the 75-or-so on the Ringer (that’s a real number by the way, and nobody appears to be minding the QC store when it comes to things like levels or guests on the phone in 2024.) When I do hear spots on the other 75 shows, the spots tend to be voiced by Bill. Added Value? Make Goods??????? To me the empty-ish breaks are a further sign that this relationship is closer to the end than the beginning.

My money is on Simmons going to SiriusXM. He would be a VERY SiriusXM hire, especially in their podcasting phase. Knowing a little about how things work, I could see them offering him his own channel - which will come with the “exclusive content” offer that rarely actually happens for more than two weeks. Although Chris Russo just signed with SXM for three years, Chris isn’t getting any younger, and Bill would be a good face for Sports down the road. He’s also way more podcasting friendly than Russo is or would ever have any interest in being.

(Can Bill convince Zach Lowe to sit around for most of an NBA season to join this new project I am making up?)

Oh wait, I remembered Apple Podcasts has transcripts now. Wow - look at all these Youtube mentions in Monday’s episode.

“Every Monday night, we put up a new episode that you can also watch on our Ringer Movies YouTube channel. I'll just tell you this, I'm not gonna tell you the movie, but it's Scary Movie Month. Scary Month?”

“You can also watch that podcast on YouTube. It's only like 50 minutes, but we hit all the basics. So we will not be talking about that trade on this podcast.”

“We will be talking to Cousin Sal. We did it live on YouTube as always, as we do it on Sunday nights.”

“All right, we're going to take a break for the podcast, and we're going to stay here on YouTube, and then we're going to talk about the NFC East.”

“I kind of wish I had realized that before I picked this because there were just guys open everywhere. But there was another piece, and we didn't talk about it on the Sunday pregame show today that we did for YouTube TV and FanDuel, the Kingsbury revenge game I think was a real thing. Did you hear that theorized anywhere?”

“Can Kyle come on the YouTube live right now?”

Anyway, Spotify is pushing video.