Never underestimate clout
Joe Rogan says his listenership has actually gone up since his high-profile Spotify saga where everyone from scientists and medical experts, to musicians and fellow commentators were urging the platform to remove his content.
Rogan, 54, claimed that he has gained around two million new subscribers since his initial covid misinformation controversies, which were soon followed by outrage over older comments relating to race and child abuse, among other content argued to have breached Spotify’s rules.
Speaking to UK commentator Douglas Murray on Friday’s episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the podcaster responded to the suggestion he had been “put through the wringer” and that detractors had done “a number on [him]” since the pair last spoke by revealing that the numbers suggested otherwise.
“It’s interesting, my subscriptions went up massively — that’s what’s crazy,” said Rogan; “During the height of it all, I gained two million subscribers. … Yeah, [the media] went for it.
“It’s also fortunate that the people who went for it were CNN. They’re so untrustworthy, and people know how biased they are and socially weird their anchors are” – the lattermost being a reference his earlier comments that the news outlet was “left-wing propaganda” and had falsely claimed he took the same form of Ivermectin used for horse deworming.
While Rogan’s estimates have not been officially backed up by the company itself, sources clarified that his streaming numbers have been consistently growing since day one, as per the Hollywood Reporter.
A recent estimate indicated that Rogan typically averages 11 million listeners per episode and even with some flagged episodes removed from the bank of over 2000, his fervent audience clearly hasn’t gone anywhere.
