IfJay Shetty was going to level up his podcast, he figured he needed to upgrade the studio in which he records it. So before his seven-year-old show, On Purpose, relaunched this month on Netflix, the 38-year-old self-help guru says he spent around $500,000 to renovate the space with specific colors and custom artwork (such asincluding a piece of glass covered in bubble wrap) to evoke the kind of vulnerability and fragility he hopes to encourage from his guests.

Sitting inside his sprawling Hollywood Hills home, worth an estimated $8 million, Shetty’s digs are a far cry from the Hindu monk principles of humble detachment he once practiced and has encouraged to display. But for a star in media’s hottest category—who recently signed a new podcast deal with Spotify and Netflix that will pay him a combined $100 million over the next three years—the studio and residence are fitting.

“I mean, I’m not a monk anymore,” Shetty tells Forbes. “Today I consider myself an entrepreneur and a leader in this space, and that allows me to have the ability to use money as a resource to do good in the world and create impact in the way that we've chosen to do that.”

For top podcasters like Shetty, the money has also never been better. The entry of video platforms such as Netflix, Hulu and Tubi into a still-frothy marketplace of audio distributors (including Spotify, SiriusXM and Amazon) have pushed paydays into territory once reserved for movie stars. Shetty earned an estimated $21 million over the past 12 months from his previous podcast distribution and ad sales agreement with iHeart Media (before paying taxes and fees to agents and managers) and he i’s in line to make far more from his new deal.

He is pouring those earnings into an expanding business portfolio, investing in the Austin-based blood testing company Function Health and founding his own sparkling tea brand, Juni. He also has a production company, Perfect Strangers, which produces the podcast Friends Keep Secrets and has a handful of TV projects in development. The........

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