Earn Your Leisure Charlamagne Tha God Breaks Silence on $200M iHeart Deal - Truth About Podcasting, Power & Ownership
Feb 5, 2026
Charlamagne Tha God, radio and media personality who co-founded The Breakfast Club and leads the Black Effect Podcast Network, clarifies his iHeart relationship and ownership stakes. He discusses podcast deal structures, why audio still drives revenue, using video to grow audio audiences, catalog value and evergreen content, and how licensing differs from owning IP.
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How Brilliant Idiots Got Its Start
- Charlamagne recounts launching Brilliant Idiots after getting 56,000 listens on SoundCloud and seeing Apple favor new podcasts.
- That initial success turned the podcast into a sustained seven-figure business over a decade.
Use Video To Drive Podcast Subscriptions
- Use video clips to promote your audio feed and push listeners to subscribe on podcast platforms.
- Treat video as marketing for the audio because podcasting's value is in listening.
Platform Deals Usually Mean Licensing
- Licensing video to platforms like Netflix is typically just that: licensing, not transfer of ownership.
- Creators can license episodes short-term and still keep other distribution channels.
