For Spotify JRE is just legitimacy and market leadership, I don’t think they expect to make the $100m back from ads or people paying to hear Joe Rogan. It was just an acquisition to try to get podcast distribution synonymous with Spotify.

For Rogan, he could have tried to monetise his audience directly but probably couldn’t be arsed, or maybe thought people wouldn’t pay. Easier to take the $100m and keep focusing on content instead of commerce