Joe Rogan made history when he scored that exclusivity deal with Spotify estimated to be worth over $200 million. Rogan was one of the first podcasters out there with Joe Rogan Experience starting as far back as 2009 and having a deep catalogue of interesting guests.
With the Spotify move and an increased level of public scrutiny, Rogan was heavily criticized by Spotify’s trans employees among others. Rogan had a long history of criticizing Fallon Fox (a trans MMA athlete) that competed against women. And even though he’s softened his stance since, it wasn’t quite enough for the discriminated group.
During a recent Companion podcast, Rogan detailed to his long time mentee Brendan Schaub how Spotify CEO Daniel Ek came to his defense.
But in reality this isn’t quite true. Spotify purged Rogan’s catalogue of many interviews with people deemed ‘problematic’ including episodes featuring some of Rogan’s lifelong friends – Eddie Bravo, Bryan Callen and more.
And it didn’t stop there, after a problematic compilation of Rogan using the slur for African American (out of context) went viral, each episode that featured the word was axed.
And while both Callen and Bravo were recently invited back and soft rolled on the MMA Companion podcast, only Bravo got a chance to make a full on solo appearance and wax poetic on topics ranging from Flat Earth and Tartaria to climate change.
Joe Rogan Experience boasts of averaging 11 million downloads per episode and is nowhere near stopping despite the criticism he receives. Recent episodes featured some very high profile personalities from Mark Zuckerberg to NFL superstar Aaron Rogers.
And the 11 million baseline might not be helped by Spotify’s own algorythm.
Excellent research from Bumper unveiled details behind the intricate episode suggestion system Spotify uses – and found out that Spotify is less likely to suggest Joe Rogan Experience to new listeners.
Like many Streaming companies, Spotify shows bias when it comes to suggestions. It is more likely to recommend you shows that they produce or are exclusive to them – roughly 14% of suggestions are from their own unique catalogue.
As per Bumper :
” I couldn’t find any evidence that Spotify is displaying episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience in their “You might also like” sections.
Perhaps Spotify has decided against using their recommendation algorithm to actively promote Joe Rogan. Or perhaps his show’s gravity is so strong he doesn’t need support from a recommendation engine.”