Spotify and Netflix join forces

Summary

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Marketplace Morning Report

Episode Title: Spotify and Netflix join forces
Date: October 22, 2025
Host: David Brancaccio
Special Guest: Michael D. Smith (Carnegie Mellon University)
Reporter: Nancy Marshall Genzer

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the newly announced partnership between Spotify and Netflix, exploring what the collaboration means for the streaming, audio, and video content landscapes. Host David Brancaccio also unpacks overnight business news, trends in crypto regulation, and new moves in the AI-powered web browser space.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Netflix and Spotify Partnership: Expanding Content, Sharing Audiences

• Netflix’s Financial Moment
  • Netflix’s value dipped 6% overnight after disappointing quarterly results, attributed to a Brazil tax dispute. [00:31]
• The Collaboration Explained
  • Netflix will begin streaming selected Spotify podcasts with video — including sports talk, true crime, and pop culture shows.
  • This move leverages Netflix’s strong video platform and Spotify’s content library, especially as many podcasts already produce video. [01:18–01:46]
• Strategic Benefits
  • For Netflix: Gains new types of content and deeper user data; can personalize recommendations based on podcast preferences.

    “Netflix is going to know something about them and is going to be able to promote content to them... much, much more easily than they otherwise could.”
    — Michael D. Smith [02:09]

  • For Spotify: Reaches new audiences on a leading video platform and can steer Netflix away from becoming a direct podcast competitor.

    “Spotify gets... access to a new audience on a platform where people are there to watch video… [and] the potential to keep Netflix out of the podcast game.”
    — Michael D. Smith [02:42]

• Competitive Landscape: YouTube as the Common Rival
  • Both companies are collaborating to compete against YouTube's huge dominance in video podcasting and content discovery.

    “The enemy of my enemy is my friend? Let's create something where we both can do a better job of competing against YouTube.”
    — Michael D. Smith [03:17]

  • Netflix is seen as attracting a more affluent audience compared to YouTube.

    “By doing this, they’re going after the top end of the market and we'll let YouTube keep the bottom end of the market.”
    — Michael D. Smith [03:45]

• The Shift to Video Podcasts
  • Listeners increasingly want video with their podcasts — “audio with pictures.”

    "We started with these podcasts as audio, and people discover actually it’s a whole lot more fun to watch Conan O'Brien and Sona with video."
    — Michael D. Smith [04:10]

2. U.S. Federal Reserve Softens Stance on Cryptocurrency

— Reporter: Nancy Marshall Genzer

• The Federal Reserve hosted a conference signaling openness to new payment technologies, including stablecoins and digital assets.

  “The distributed ledgers and crypto assets are no longer on the fringes but are increasingly woven into the fabric of the payment and financial system.”
  — Fed Governor Christopher Waller [05:02]

• The Fed is considering accounts for fintechs, giving them access to payment infrastructure, though without interest and possibly with caps.

  “Payment innovation moves fast, and the Federal Reserve needs to keep up.”
  — Fed Governor Christopher Waller [05:32]

• Benefit: Crypto firms would no longer have to rely on traditional banks as intermediaries. [05:35]

3. AI-Powered Browser: OpenAI’s Atlas

— Reporter: Lily Jamali

• OpenAI launched "Atlas," a web browser with ChatGPT built in, aiming to rival Google Chrome. [06:40]
• Features include “agent mode,” where ChatGPT can independently conduct searches for paying subscribers.
• Context: This comes on the heels of legal scrutiny on Google's search monopoly, but Chrome remains with Google for now.
• Google has been integrating AI-generated answers into search results as competition mounts. [07:33]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Consumer Data and Personalization:

  “Netflix is going to know something about them and is going to be able to promote content to them... much, much more easily than they otherwise could.”
  — Michael D. Smith (02:09)

• Strategic Collaboration to Compete with YouTube:

  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend? Let's create something where we both can do a better job of competing against YouTube.”
  — Michael D. Smith (03:17)

• Audience Segmentation:

  “By doing this, they’re going after the top end of the market and we'll let YouTube keep the bottom end of the market.”
  — Michael D. Smith (03:45)

• On Video Podcasts:

  “We started with these podcasts as audio, and people discover actually it’s a whole lot more fun to watch Conan O'Brien and Sona with video.”
  — Michael D. Smith (04:10)

• Regulators Warming to Crypto:

  "The distributed ledgers and crypto assets are no longer on the fringes but are increasingly woven into the fabric of the payment and financial system."
  — Fed Governor Christopher Waller (05:02)

• Fed on FinTech Accounts:

  “Payment innovation moves fast, and the Federal Reserve needs to keep up.”
  — Fed Governor Christopher Waller (05:32)

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Timeline & Segment Timestamps

• 00:31 – 04:34: Core interview with Michael D. Smith on the Spotify-Netflix partnership, competitive dynamics, and audience segmentation.
• 04:36 – 06:08: Nancy Marshall Genzer’s report on the Fed’s evolving crypto stance, with quotes from Fed Governor Waller.
• 06:40 – 07:33: Lily Jamali’s update on OpenAI’s Atlas browser and Google’s position in the tech landscape.

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Transcript

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[David Brancaccio]

Big old screen bowl of popcorn. Gather round for a podcast. I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. The largest entertainment company in the world is Netflix. If you rank it by stock price times the number of stocks, by that measure, the company is worth 6% less overnight after quarterly results that fell short. Now Netflix blames Brazil, a tax dispute there. Beyond the realm of accountants and back into the world of content, Netflix is trying a new strategy to make more worked out a deal to stream some podcasts from Spotify, several sports talk shows, some true crime pop culture too, shows that are both audio and video. What's the point of Netflix meets Spotify? Carnegie Mellon's Michael D. Smith joins us now. Professor, welcome David.

[Michael D. Smith]

It's great to be here.

[David Brancaccio]

Help me understand this. This is more about Netflix becoming a distribution system for podcasts that in many cases already do video.

[Michael D. Smith]

I think this is a great deal for both Spotify and Netflix. There's value here on both sides. So Spotify has these podcasts that also have a video component. And guess what? Netflix has a great video platform that a lot of people use to discover new content.

[David Brancaccio]

I see. Let me understand what Netflix gets out of this in your view.

[Michael D. Smith]

Well, Netflix gets new content and if you look at the sort of shows they're getting, what I see is new content that is going to tell Netflix a lot about the user. So you know people who watch the Bill Simmons podcast giants was the best.

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Game of the year.

[Michael D. Smith]

Just an unbelievable comeback by the Broncos, an unbelievable loss. Netflix is going to is going to know something about them and is going to be able to promote content to them versus the Rewatchables, versus Recipe Club, versus Serial Killers. When they see me watching that, those shows, they're going to know a little bit about me and are going to be able to promote content to me much, much more easily than they otherwise could.

[David Brancaccio]

Aha. Our consumer data is at Play here. Spotify. What do they get out of this? I mean, you know, their niche is audio, I guess.

[Michael D. Smith]

Honestly, when I go to Spotify, I'm going to listen to stuff, and when I go to Netflix, I'm going to watch stuff. So I think what Spotify gets out of this is, is access to a new audience on a platform where people are there to watch video. The other thing I think Spotify gets out of this is the potential to keep Netflix out of the podcast game.

[David Brancaccio]

There's a brand we haven't mentioned here. You get the feeling that both Netflix and Spotify are looking over their shoulder. It begins with a why. What brand might I be thinking about?

[Michael D. Smith]

Yeah, I'm just guessing. YouTube.

[David Brancaccio]

Yeah.

[Michael D. Smith]

So let's address the elephant in the room here. They both get out of this the possibility of doing a better job of competing with YouTube. So I think when they look at each other in this deal, they say, you know what the enemy of my enemy is, my friend? Let's create something where we both can do a better job of competing against YouTube.

[David Brancaccio]

Is it fair to say that Netflix has a better heeled audience than, say, YouTube?

[Michael D. Smith]

That's my sense. Right. Is by doing this, they're going after the top end of the market and we'll let YouTube keep the bottom end of the market.

[David Brancaccio]

Audio with pictures. I look forward to the time when they have a camera up my nose. Trust me, I'm a handsome fellow at 2:15am Pacific Time. But there's no way to stop it, right? I mean, people just want video with their content. That's what people are used to.

[Michael D. Smith]

That's what we seem to be finding is we started with these podcasts as audio and people discover actually it's a whole lot more fun to watch Conan o' Brien and Sona with video. So I think that's where it's moving. And I think this Spotify Netflix deal has a lot of value for both sides.

[David Brancaccio]

Michael D. Smith is a professor of information technology and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Thank you so much.

[Michael D. Smith]

My pleasure, David.

[David Brancaccio]

Now, once a skeptic, America's central bank is warming to crypto. The Federal Reserve yesterday hosted a conference on innovations in paying for things with discussions on digital concoctions like stablecoins and ways to link traditional finance and digital marketplace's Nancy Marshall Genzer reports.

[Nancy Marshall Genzer]

Fed Governor Christopher Waller kicked things off by saying the Fed is embracing new financial technology, not looking at it with suspicion or scorn.

[Fed Governor Christopher Waller]

This is an acknowledgment. The distributed ledgers and crypto assets are no longer on the fringes but are increasingly woven into the fabric of the payment and financial system.

[Nancy Marshall Genzer]

U.S. regulators have been skeptical and cautious toward digital currencies. But now, Waller says the central bank might create a new type of Fed account for fintech firms. It would give them access to Fed infrastructure for moving money around. These accounts wouldn't pay interest and could be capped, but they're a start, waller says.

[Fed Governor Christopher Waller]

Payment innovation moves fast, and the Federal Reserve needs to keep up.

[Nancy Marshall Genzer]

This would be a major benefit for crypto firms. Right now they have to rely on third parties like banks that have full fledged Fed accounts to make transactions. I'm Nancy Marshall Genzer for Marketplace.

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[David Brancaccio]

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[David Brancaccio]

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has launched not a Web page but a whole Web browser with artificial intelligence built in. Atlas is a rival to Google's Chrome and will be a way to scroll, with ChatGPT always at hand. The BBC's North America technology correspondent Lily.

[Lily Jamali]

Jamali has more OpenAI boss Sam Altman says Atlas will be powered by artificial intelligence. Paying subscribers can set up ChatGPT to conduct searches on its own in what it calls agent mode. The challenge to Google comes a year after the search giant was declared an illegal monopolist in online search. But the company has not been ordered to spin off its Chrome browser as an antitrust remedy, as US Government lawyers had requested. Google is also heavily invested in AI, and for the last year has been able to show users AI generated answers in its search results.

[David Brancaccio]

That's the BBC's Lilly Jamali also, Bloomberg is reporting that Google and Anthropic are in discussions about a deal that could bring in a lot more computing power to Anthropic's AI system called Claude, which doesn't work as a name on the radio here because you might be thinking C L O D, as in blockhead. It's Claude, like the French name, like composer Claude Debussy or Claude Shannon, the father of information theory. In Los Angeles, I'm David Brancaccio. Marketplace Morning report from APM American Public Media.

[Bridget]

Hey, everyone, it's Bridget, host of Million Bazillion, a podcast from Marketplace. You've probably heard about the government shutdown, but if you're anything like our young caller Esme, whose dad is a federal worker, you might still have questions.

[Lily Jamali]

I've noticed that my dad hasn't been going to work, and I don't know when the government shutdown will stop and my dad can go back to work.

[Bridget]

We can help tune into our recent episode where we explain what you and the young ones in your life need to know about government shutdowns. Listen to Million Bazillion on your favorite podcast app.