Spotify Technology SA
What Happened: Spotify previously introduced a feature that displayed the number of followers for various podcasters, including Rogan, Alex Cooper, and Travis Kelce.
Rogan, who signed an exclusive deal with Spotify in 2020, has a staggering 14.5 million followers on the platform as of Thursday. This figure is nearly three times more than the next most-followed program, TED Talks Daily, reported Bloomberg.
Despite his massive following on Spotify, Rogan's subscriber count on YouTube stands at 16.4 million, and his personal Instagram followers are at 18.9 million. It's worth noting that Rogan accumulated these Spotify followers in just four years, following his exclusive deal with the platform.
Spotify's new feature, which is currently being tested, is accessible on the landing pages of shows on the Spotify mobile app. It allows users to see the number of followers a podcast has.
The audio streaming and media service provider has stated that the number of followers represents the users who have chosen to "follow" a show on Spotify. The report noted that it doesn't reflect the show's total audience or an episode's performance.
Why It Matters: Rogan's podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience," has been a major hit on Spotify. In 2023, Rogan's podcast was the most popular on Spotify for the fourth year in a row.
Despite his success on Spotify, Rogan's podcast was also made available on Apple Podcasts in 2024. This move came after he signed a multi-year deal with Spotify and praised Spotify as the "coolest and smartest" partner.
It is important to note that in 2022, Rogan apologized for using a racial slur on previous episodes of his show. This happened after over 100 episodes of the "Joe Rogan Experience," were removed from the platform. At the time, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said Rogan "chose to remove a number of episodes from Spotify."
