Trevor Noah’s SiriusXM Move Wasn’t About Exclusivity
Trevor Noah has mastered the art of taking an audience with him. He went from stand-up stages in South Africa to becoming the face of The Daily Show, then built a global career across comedy, television, touring, books and production. In 2023, he added another format to the mix: podcasting.
"What Now? with Trevor Noah" has since become more than another celebrity podcast. In 2025, SiriusXM signed a multiyear agreement with Noah, securing exclusive advertising rights across the show's audio and video editions.
The value of the deal was never disclosed. The bigger story is what SiriusXM was actually buying: access to an audience Trevor had spent decades building.
When "What Now?" launched in November 2023, Noah was entering an increasingly crowded podcast market. But he wasn't starting from zero. He already had a global fanbase, years of experience interviewing people on television and a career built around making conversations part of his brand.
The podcast gave him something television couldn't: a space for longer conversations, with guests ranging from entertainers and athletes to political and cultural figures. It also gave Noah a direct relationship with listeners outside the traditional television system.
By 2025, that audience had become commercially valuable enough for SiriusXM to make its move. On June 12, 2025, SiriusXM announced a multiyear agreement with Noah for "What Now? with Trevor Noah", bringing the podcast to the SiriusXM Podcast Network from July 1. The financial terms were not disclosed.
But SiriusXM didn't simply make the show exclusive to its platform. SiriusXM Media secured exclusive ad-sales rights across the podcast's audio and video editions, while the show remained available on major podcast platforms and YouTube.
That distinction is important. The deal allowed "What Now?" to maintain its wider distribution while SiriusXM took the advertising opportunity around the audience. For SiriusXM, that meant being able to sell brands access to Noah's listeners and viewers across multiple formats. For Noah, it created another commercial partner without requiring the show to disappear from the platforms where audiences were already finding it.
It's a model that reflects where podcasting has been heading: the podcast itself is only one part of the business. The audience, and the ability to monetise that audience across formats, is where the real value sits.
And "What Now?" has continued to build that audience.
As of September 2026, the podcast remains a weekly show, with 152 episodes listed. Its dedicated YouTube channel has passed 20.5 million views and has around 550,000 subscribers. It also continues to chart in the U.S.
The distribution strategy has expanded too. In June 2026, SiriusXM announced a non-exclusive video distribution and monetisation partnership with Tubi, with "What Now? with Trevor Noah" among the podcasts joining the platform. At the time of the announcement, Tubi had 100 million monthly active users.
That puts "What Now?" in front of another potential audience while extending the show's life beyond traditional podcast apps and YouTube.
But the bigger story is Noah's trajectory. He hasn't simply gone from comedian to podcaster. He has repeatedly taken an audience built in one medium and carried it into another. Stand-up became television. Television expanded into global touring, books and production. Podcasting became another direct channel to his audience - and another place to build commercial value around his name.
That makes the SiriusXM deal more interesting than the headline of a celebrity signing a podcast agreement. Noah didn't need to choose between reach and monetisation. He found a way to keep the reach, and sell the rights around it.
