In 2020, Spotify paid $100 million for the exclusive audio rights to the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. Last month, it renewed its deal with Rogan for a reported $250 million payout over several years (but no longer exclusive rights).
It seems clear that Spotify needs Joe Rogan, and Joe Rogan needs Spotify, which has stood by him even when his show has come under scrutiny for things like spreading vaccine misinformation.
For the first time, there’s a sense of just how big Rogan’s podcast audience actually is. Ashley Carman reported in Bloomberg that Spotify started testing a new feature that shows podcasts’ follower counts.
“The Joe Rogan Experience” isn’t just the most popular podcast on Spotify — but also almost three times the size of the second most popular (“TED Talks Daily”), according to Carman’s report. At 14.5 million followers, it dwarfs other popular podcasts like “The Daily” from The New York Times (2.6 million) and “This American Life” (870,000).
Scoop: It’s a generally accepted truth that Joe Rogan’s podcast is the biggest on Earth (!) But how massive is his audience?
Last month, Spotify quietly started testing a feature that discloses how many followers podcasts on the platform have.
His show is almost 3X bigger than… pic.twitter.com/AOkbqOb3rg
Carman describes how this figure doesn’t even get the full picture of Rogan’s total audience:
Follower counts don’t necessarily translate into listens, but it’s still an impressive number. For context, about 42 million people in the US listened to podcasts in 2023, according to Edison Research. It’s probably safe to assume, based on the numbers cited by Bloomberg, that a sizable chunk of those listeners is tuned in to Joe Rogan.
Jump to
Every time publishes a story, you’ll get an alert straight to your inbox!
Look out for an alert in your inbox the next time publishes a story!
Every time a new story is published, you’ll get an alert straight to your inbox!
Look out for an alert in your inbox the next time a new story is published!
By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.