Alex Cooper/Call Her Daddy's $125 Million Deal With SiriusXM Makes Howard Stern Expendable | Bobby Burack
In one of the largest media deals a single talent has ever signed, Alex Cooper agreed to partner with SiriusXM to license her self-owned "Call Her Daddy" podcast for $125 million over the next three years.
"Call Her Daddy" will remain available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify, to which she was previously signed.
At $42 million per year, Cooper tops all television hosts in annual salary – namely Rachel Maddow, whom MSNBC pays $40 million per year.
For comparison, Stephen A. Smith is currently seeking a $25 million salary from ESPN. ESPN pays Pat McAfee $30 million per year to license his daily "Pat McAfee Show" among other duties.
The only media talents we can find who have signed more lucrative deals than Cooper are Joe Rogan and Howard Stern.
Rogan re-signed with Spotify earlier this year for a contract worth up to $250 million, between a minimum upfront guarantee and potential revenue shares based on ad sales. Stern's salary with Sirius is not public, though previous reports suggest he makes around $80 million annually.
And it's Stern who might be most impacted by Cooper's new deal.
CANNES, France - Call Her Daddy Host, Creator and Executive Producer, Alex Cooper participating in The Art of The Interview session at Spotify Beach on June 20, 2023. (Photo by Antony Jones/Getty Images for Spotify)
Howard Stern has been the face of SiriusXM since he arrived in 2004. No one has challenged his standing within the company. Sirius had viewed his talk-lineup as Stern and everyone else.
As of today, that is no longer the case.
Right now, Alex Cooper is a bigger star than Stern.
"Call Her Daddy" frequently ranks among the top three most viewed podcasts on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Cooper's audience is far more youthful (18-39) and monetizable than Stern's. She is still ascending at 29 years old. Stern, at 70 and sickly-looking, is not.
In some ways, Cooper is a younger, prettier, and female version of Howard Stern. "Call Her Daddy" resembles the early days of the "Howard Stern Show" with an emphasis on sex talk, comedy, and unique celebrity interviews.
Cooper, like Stern, gets big-name guests to open up in ways they would on no other program. Her recent guests include Miley Cyrus, Simone Biles, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Ciara.
Her podcast is also fun, goofy, and positive. Stern's radio show is none of that. Howard is a shell of his former self. He has become meandering, repetitive, and stooge-ish.
The combination of Donald Trump and Covid harmed him mentally.
Even four years later, Stern still bemoans the toxic fumes he may breathe from unmasked Americans. Howard announced in February that he was again "locking down" amid rumors of a new strain of the virus.
"It’s time to go back down into lockdown," said Stern. "I’m just emerging and now I’m going back into lockdown."
Alex Cooper might be a pro-choice warrior. At least she's not locked in her basement bragging about how "woke" she is.
Here's Stern from last November:
"By the way, I kind of take that as a compliment, that I’m woke. I’ll tell you how I feel about it. To me, the opposite of woke, is being asleep. And if woke means I can’t get behind Trump, which is what I think it means, or that I support people who want to be transgender or I’m for the vaccine, dude call me woke as you fucking want. I am a woke motherfucker, and I love it."
There's a reason SiriusXM stopped publishing Stern's ratings around 2020. His audience has diminished.
Signing Cooper also marks a vivid transition in SiriusXM's business model.
The platform has long relied on selling subscriptions for its live and on-demand radio network. While "Call Her Daddy" could air on the radio, the investment is a bet on the network's ability to sell ads for her free podcasts.
Sirius has already found success in podcasting with shows like "The Megyn Kelly Show" (which also airs live)," "Smartless, and "Gold Minds with Kevin Hart."
With "Call Her Daddy," SiriusXM has arguably the top podcast lineup in the industry.
Sirius maintains a strong radio lineup with Patriot and Mad Dog Sports Radio. And those channels will remain strong. However, Sirius's pivot to podcasting raises questions about whether continuing to invest nine figures in Stern and his aging listeners is wise.
For the first time in 20 years, Howard Stern is expendable.