Adelle Else
When Call Her Daddy co-hosts Alexandra Cooper and Sofia Franklyn had their very public breakup in 2020, the headlines mainly focused on drama. But beneath the tabloid sheen lay a much bigger story—one about ownership, branding, and the transformation of podcasts into high-value intellectual property. The dispute ended with Cooper walking away with the name, the audience, and eventually securing exclusive deals with Spotify and SiriusXM totaling over $180 million.1 But for lawyers, the real climax is what the saga reveals about podcasting's legal infrastructure, or rather, its absence.
Podcasting's meteoric boom—fueled by creator-led content and platform bidding wars—has entered a new phase. The energy hasn't disappeared, but the financial frenzy has cooled. Spotify has scaled back its exclusive podcasting arm.2 Meanwhile, other companies are investing more strategically—often in true crime, a genre with high replay value and cross-media potential.3
During these boom years—from roughly 2017 through 2021—platforms like Spotify, Amazon, and SiriusXM raced to secure exclusive shows.4 Many of these deals lacked long-term clarity regarding IP. Shows were launched by friends or informal co-host duos, with no formal documentation around authorship, brand ownership, or future licensing.
Call Her Daddy was emblematic of this era. Launched under Barstool Sports, the podcast exploded in popularity, with Cooper and Franklyn becoming cultural icons. But when contract renegotiations surfaced, so did the rift: Franklyn claimed the show had become unbalanced; Cooper moved to solidify her control. Ultimately, Cooper retained the brand, struck solo deals, and the show continued without Franklyn, evolving into a platform for candid conversations with celebrity guest figures.5 The business pivot was successful—but it exposed podcasting's vulnerability to creative disputes with no clear legal backbone.
At the heart of the matter were questions of joint authorship and branding rights. Who owns a podcast co-created by two voices but edited and distributed under a third-party platform? What happens when that platform controls the IP? And when one host leaves, can the show continue under the same name?
While creator-first content defined podcasting's boom, we're now in a more cautious phase. Spotify has laid off hundreds across Gimlet, Parcast, and other podcast units.6 The company is reportedly rethinking its focus on high-cost exclusives, in part due to disappointing returns in advertising monetization.7 In short, the "podcast land grab" is over.
Instead, a more strategic approach is emerging. Following the success of narrative hits like Serial, major media companies are intentionally investing in true crime podcasting.8 Unlike personality-driven shows, the true crime genre has higher option value, making it adaptable into books, TV, films, and even scripted fiction. In other words, it's not just a podcast—it's a portfolio of potential IP assets. For instance, Audiochuck, the network behind Crime Junkie, recently signed a reported $150 million multi-year deal with Tubi and Fox Corporation to bring video versions of its podcasts to streaming platforms, highlighting the cross-media potential and monetization opportunities of true crime IP.9
But that shift also brings new legal challenges. True crime podcasting often deals with living individuals, unsolved cases, or reexaminations of trauma. Defamation risk increases. So does the likelihood of right-of-publicity claims, licensing disputes over archival materials, and liability related to factual misstatements.10 The podcast is no longer a conversation between friends—it's a quasi-journalistic product, often operating without the institutional protections of legacy media.
Historically, podcast titles weren't treated as protectable trademarks—often dismissed as too descriptive or niche to register.11 But that's changing. As podcasting becomes a serious commercial engine, creators and companies are rushing to file USPTO trademarks not just for names, but for logos, slogans, and sound marks.12 This shift reflects a growing awareness that brand ownership is key to monetization. Titles like Serial and Call Her Daddy have demonstrated the power of distinctiveness earned through market success. In a crowded marketplace, securing federal registration isn't just defensive—it's foundational to controlling identity, licensing deals, and the downstream adaptation economy.
Podcasting is no longer a Wild West of casual chats and informal monetization. The medium has matured, and so have the stakes. What began as a platform for creators has become a complex legal and commercial ecosystem, where control over IP, branding, and licensing can determine whether a show survives—or collapses.
The empires built during the podcast gold rush may not be crumbling—but they are being litigated, licensed, and leveled. Whether it's the fallout from Call Her Daddy or the rise of true crime as strategic IP, one thing is clear: creators today need more than a mic. They need a lawyer.
[1]Alexandra York, Talk Ain’t Cheap: Inside Alex Cooper’s $125 Million Deal to Grow Her Multi-Media Empire, Forbes (Nov. 22, 2024), https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexyork/2024/11/22/talk-aint-cheap-inside-alex-coopers-125-million-deal-to-grow-her-multi-media-empire/.
[2] Jordan Valinsky, Spotify to Lay Off 200 Workers in Podcast Division, CNN (June 5, 2023), https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/05/business/spotify-podcast-layoffs.
[3] Peter White, Hollywood Con Queen Podcast Set as First Series in Slate Deal Between Sony Music Entertainment’s Sister Campside, Deadline (Sept. 10, 2020), https://deadline.com/2020/09/hollywood-con-queen-podcast-set-as-first-series-in-slate-deal-between-sony-music-entertainment-sister-campside-1234578438.
[4]Todd Spangler, Podcast Pay Dirt: Why Top Hosts Like Joe Rogan, Kelce Brothers, Alex Cooper Are Landing Big-Bucks Deals, Variety (Sept. 11, 2024), https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/podcast-deals-joe-rogan-kelce-brothers-alex-cooper-1236139684/.
[5] York, supra note 1.
[6] Valinsky, supra note 2.
[7] Rutger Rosenborg, Why Spotify’s Podcast Exclusivity Era Is Coming to an End, MIDiA Research (Feb. 7, 2024), https://www.midiaresearch.com/blog/why-spotifys-podcast-exclusivity-era-is-coming-to-an-end.
[8] Nicole Slaughter Graham, Serial’s Runaway Success Launched Podcasts Into the Mainstream, Poynter (May 13, 2025), https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2025/serial-podcast-mainstream-success-impact-media.
[9] Todd Spangler, Ashley Flowers’ ‘Crime Junkie’ Podcast Company Inks $150 Million Multiyear Pact With Tubi, Variety (Oct. 30, 2025), https://www.variety.com/2025/digital/news/ashley-flowers-crime-junkie-podcast-tubi-deal-audiochuck-1236565575.
[10] Joe Flint & Itzel Luna, Streamers Can’t Get Enough of True-Story TV. Cue the Lawsuits., Wall St. J. (Aug. 5, 2024), https://www.wsj.com/business/media/netflix-true-stories-lawsuits-77b3494e.
[11] See Trademark Doctor, How and Why To Register Your Podcast Trademark (Dec. 25, 2024), https://trademarkdoctor.net/federal-trademarks/understanding-podcast-trademark-why-register-your-podcast-name/ (noting the common misconception that podcast names cannot be trademarked); EsquireTrademarks, About Podcast Names and Trademark Law – Trademark a Podcast Brand (May 4, 2023), https://esquiretrademarks.com/podcasts/ (reporting that over 42,000 USPTO records list “podcast” in the identification, with nearly 18,000 registered podcast trademarks, and describing the increasing trend of podcasters seeking registration).
[12]See Author’s review of USPTO TESS records; See, e.g., Reg. No. 5,780,945 (for Call Her Daddy), Reg. No. 5,527,216 (for Serial).