Why are people assuming, well why did they go audio exclusive in the first place? Safe to say if everything else was the same as when they first signed that they'd sign again, that's just as simple as 2+2.
You don't "strategically" go back to not having a deal. And if Spotify had enough money to secure rights to podcasts from The Ringer, Rogan, Kim K, and Marvel, then they had to have had enough for this pod too right? Or if we study Budden history, nobody ever seemingly has enough for him. "Well he's pushing things forward, he's for the creators", seems like everyone else is doing a better job creating the landscape than him with their deals.
He apparently had one of Spotify's top podcasts when 2019 ended, how does he not have a deal 1 year later? Did numbers decline that much or did he go into negotiations and Budden things like with Complex, where people come out after the fact saying the demands were outrageous?
So yeah it's easy to see why people aren't giving benefit of the doubt.