Episode One: 50 Million Views, Joe Rogan and the Media Power He Redefined

Written by: David, Deep Tide TechFlow

You may not listen to podcasts, but you have definitely seen this shot.

In 2018, the image of Musk holding a joint, surrounded by smoke, spread across the internet, becoming one of the most iconic moments of his personal image.

However, few people know where this scene took place, and even fewer care about who the person sitting across from him was.

In fact, this was the recording site of an American podcast.

The host handed Musk a joint mixed with marijuana and tobacco, and Musk asked, "Is this legal?" before taking a puff.

The next day, Tesla's stock price dropped by 9%.

This episode has since garnered over 69 million views on YouTube, making it the most-watched episode in the podcast's history.

What kind of show and what kind of host could make the world's richest man do something like this on camera?

In the 2024 U.S. election, Trump also spent three hours on this show, specifically thanking the host in his victory speech; just two weeks ago, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sat in this recording studio, discussing AI and the chip war for two and a half hours, with views exceeding 2.8 million in two weeks.

His name is Joe Rogan. His show, "The Joe Rogan Experience," is currently the largest podcast in the world.

From Comedian to Podcast King, Valued at $250 Million

Joe Rogan's podcast influence is built on his unconventional personal background.

A comedian, reality show host, and UFC commentator. When you put these three identities together, it doesn't seem like someone who could create the world's largest podcast.

He is not a traditional interview show host, nor is he a polished media professional. His background is actually in entertainment and combat sports, not journalism.

But it is precisely this "unconventional" approach that has allowed him to create something completely different from traditional media; he can connect with networks and viewership that far exceed many professional media programs.

Initially, Joe Rogan was a comedian, performing stand-up in Boston clubs in the 1990s. He later moved to Los Angeles, acted in sitcoms for a few years, and hosted a reality show called "Fear Factor."

This show took a sensational route, having contestants eat bugs and jump from high buildings, relying on shock and disgust to attract viewers. In today's short video environment, it would definitely be categorized as vulgar but popular content.

But what truly made him stand out was another job.

Starting in 1997, he became a commentator for the UFC, sitting cage-side to commentate on mixed martial arts matches for over twenty years. This job solidified his position in the combat sports world and built a large, loyal male audience.

In 2009, he began recording podcasts at home.

Like many podcasts' initial starting points, the equipment was rudimentary, there were no sponsors, and no business plan. But each episode lasted two to three hours, chatting with friends or guests about anything.

Looking back, his previous chaotic experiences turned out to be quite useful.

Having been a comedian, he knows how to make conversations interesting and rhythmic. As a reality show host, he is also accustomed to staying relaxed in front of the camera. After twenty years as a UFC commentator, this audience was already used to hearing him speak.

Moreover, he is not an expert in any specific field, which gives him the advantage of being able to ask "dumb questions" with confidence.

When facing a physicist, he would ask the most basic concepts; when talking to politicians, he doesn't probe into policy details but rather discusses "what do you really think." This style is something you would never see in traditional media.

Television interviews have strict time limits, and hosts must quickly get to the point. News interviews emphasize confrontation, with reporters digging for things interviewees do not want to discuss.

Rogan's show does the opposite, giving you three hours, unedited, uninterrupted, to talk about whatever you want.

The result is that many celebrities have said things on his show that they would not say elsewhere. For example, Musk smoking marijuana is just one instance. Zuckerberg came on to discuss MMA training, appearing more normal than in any congressional hearing.

Slowly, Joe Rogan's podcast became the go-to place for celebrities to "show their true selves." Traditional media interviews are performances; here, they can be themselves.

With various celebrities guesting, the show has also become increasingly valuable.

In 2020, Spotify purchased the exclusive distribution rights to "The Joe Rogan Experience" for $200 million, setting a record for the largest deal in podcasting history.

In 2022, Rogan faced a public backlash for negative comments about certain COVID-19 vaccines on his podcast, leading several musicians to withdraw their songs from Spotify in protest.

At this critical moment, another video platform, Rumble, publicly offered $100 million to lure his podcast away, but Rogan was not swayed.

In 2024, he renewed his distribution rights with Spotify, but the price rose to $250 million.

Moreover, this time he no longer accepted exclusivity, and the show returned to being available on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts simultaneously. Spotify paid more money but gained fewer rights.

In 2025, "The Joe Rogan Experience" topped the annual podcast charts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube simultaneously for the first time.

A chat show that started from home has been running for sixteen years and is valued higher than many traditional media companies.

Podcast Chit-Chat, Precisely Targeting Votes

On October 25, 2024, during the election sprint, Trump sat down in Rogan's recording studio in Austin.

This episode lasted a full three hours. After recording, Trump rushed to a campaign rally in Michigan, making thousands of supporters wait an extra three hours.

What did they talk about for three hours?

UFOs. Trump said he interviewed fighter pilots who told him they had seen a spherical object moving at four times the speed of an F-22 fighter jet.

The White House bed. He described his feelings upon first entering the Lincoln bedroom in the White House, noting how large the bed was because Lincoln was six feet six inches tall.

Tariffs. Trump also proposed completely replacing income tax with tariffs. Rogan asked, "Are you serious?"

Trump replied, "Of course, why not? The 1880s were the wealthiest time for our country, and it was all thanks to tariffs."

These topics seem completely unrelated, but they share a commonality:

They are things that traditional political interviews would never discuss.

Television stations would ask about policy details, probe controversial statements, and cut time. No serious political journalist would let a presidential candidate spend ten minutes discussing UFOs and Lincoln's bed.

But this is precisely the characteristic of Rogan's show. Three hours, no interruptions, no agenda, talk about whatever you want.

What the audience sees is not a candidate confined by media frameworks, but a complete Trump: curious, with outrageous ideas, and capable of casual conversation.

Rogan's own comment captures the show's effect well:

"You said a lot of crazy things, but traditional media taking those words and making news out of them actually made you more popular. Because people are tired of the scripted politician tone. Even if they disagree with you, at least they know this person is real."

This sense of authenticity is particularly effective for Rogan's audience.

Research from foreign institutions shows that 80% of the show's listeners are male, with over half aged 18 to 34. Politically, 35% identify as independents, 32% lean Republican, and 27% lean Democratic. This group shares a common trait:

They do not watch traditional television news much and generally distrust mainstream media, but they spend several hours each week listening to Rogan chat.

In other words, this is a group that traditional political communication finds hard to reach. And when Trump spends three hours sitting across from a host they trust, speaking in a relaxed, informal manner, the effect far exceeds any campaign advertisement.

After the episode was released, YouTube views quickly surpassed 50 million.

The entire video was cut into countless segments, spreading on X, TikTok, and Instagram. Every quotable line and every outrageous statement became standalone content, reaching those who would never click on a three-hour video.

Meanwhile, Trump's presidential election opponent, Harris, did not appear on this show.

Reports indicate that discussions took place, and Rogan publicly invited her. However, Harris's team wanted to limit the duration to one hour, which Rogan refused. He stated on the show:

"It's not that I don't want to invite her; it's that she doesn't want to come."

In contrast, Trump's episode garnered over 50 million views, while Harris's appearance on another podcast, "Call Her Daddy," received only 600,000 views.

After the election, Trump won. In his victory speech, UFC President Dana White specifically thanked Joe Rogan, listing him as one of the contributors to his victory.

A podcast being included in a presidential victory speech's thank-you list is a first in American political history.

The Chinese Mirror: Attempts by Luo Yonghao and Others

Can Joe Rogan's model be replicated in China?

Some are trying.

In June 2025, Luo Yonghao revealed at an AI conference that Liang Wenfeng, the founder of DeepSeek, suggested he leverage his advantage of "making a living by talking." A few months later, he launched the video podcast "Luo Yonghao's Crossroads" on Bilibili, directly competing with Joe Rogan and Lex Fridman.

The format of the show is very similar to "The Joe Rogan Experience": long conversations, minimal editing, with each episode lasting three to five hours.

The first guest was Li Xiang, the founder of Li Auto, and the two chatted for four hours, discussing everything from childhood trauma to his relationship with Wang Xing, daring to ask and answer anything. The reaction in the comments section was:

In the era of short videos, this kind of "long and substantial super-sized" content is extremely rare.

Luo Yonghao is not the only one. Lu Yu, Yu Qian, Li Dan, and Yang Di, these well-known figures, have all joined Bilibili to create video podcasts. Bilibili has also made significant investments, pouring in over 1 billion in traffic support during the summer, providing free recording spaces in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou, and planning to launch podcast-specific AI creation tools.

It seems that China's "podcast year" is finally arriving, but things are not that simple.

When Luo Yonghao discussed with Tim from Film Hurricane, he mentioned that his video views were around 20 to 30 million, while Tim believed "hitting 100 million is what counts as popular." This actually reveals a structural issue:

In the traffic ecology of the Chinese internet, long content is inherently at a disadvantage.

In recent years, users have been trained to have the habit of "watching a movie in three minutes." The algorithms of Douyin and Kuaishou reward completion rates, and a three-hour video has almost no survival space in the recommendation pool.

Ironically, many highlights of long video podcasts are instead spread through short clips of dozens of seconds on Douyin and Xiaohongshu.

At the same time, commercialization is also a challenge.

In 2024, the U.S. podcast industry generated over $2 billion in advertising revenue, with top hosts securing exclusive contracts worth hundreds of millions. In China, a podcast brand with nearly 500,000 subscribers quotes less than 40,000 yuan for a single spoken advertisement, with annual net income possibly only in the hundreds of thousands.

YouTube has a mature AdSense revenue-sharing system; the longer the video, the more ad slots, and the higher the income, which encourages long content from a profit mechanism perspective. Bilibili's commercialization capabilities are far from this level.

There is also a more fundamental issue:

Rogan's influence largely comes from his ability to invite people like Trump, Musk, and Jensen Huang, who are willing to say things on his show that they wouldn't say elsewhere.

This "information premiere" status requires long-term accumulated trust and a unique public opinion environment.

Luo Yonghao can invite Li Xiang, He Xiaopeng, and Zhou Hongyi, which is already a top-tier lineup in China's tech circle. However, there are inherent boundaries in the openness of the topics discussed.

So, can Joe Rogan's model be replicated in China?

The format can be learned, but the soil is different.

Controversy and Boundaries

At this point, there is an unavoidable question: Joe Rogan is a controversial figure.

In 2022, he sparked a storm by questioning the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines on his show. Spotify did not abandon Rogan but added "content warning" labels to all episodes related to COVID-19 and removed over 70 old episodes.

This was not his first trouble.

In 2024, he discussed the origins of AIDS with guests on his show, spreading some claims that had been debunked by the medical community, leading to public criticism from the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

A study from Yale found that among the ten most popular podcasts in the U.S., eight had spread false or misleading information about climate change, and Rogan's show was included in all of them.

His show is also a hub for various conspiracy theories in the U.S.

From the assassination of Kennedy to UFOs, from big pharmaceutical companies to government surveillance, he maintains an "open attitude" towards these topics. Critics argue that this provides a platform for misinformation, while his supporters believe it challenges mainstream narratives.

In July 2025, he posted on X:

"Salute to those who still don't believe in conspiracy theories; your ability to stick to your position is admirable." This post garnered over 15 million views.

This is also the complexity of Joe Rogan.

He is not a consistently aligned person. For example, he supports same-sex marriage, marijuana legalization, and universal healthcare, which are typical liberal positions. But he also questions mainstream media and provides a platform for controversial figures, making him a darling of conservatives.

The reason his show is influential is precisely because he does not belong to any camp. Those who have lost trust in mainstream media find a "counter-establishment" alternative in him.

However, this same trait also makes him a node for the spread of misinformation. When someone with an audience of over a hundred million says, "I'm just asking questions," those questions themselves are already shaping public perception.

This is also the inherent tension of the podcast medium:

Its charm lies in authenticity, relaxation, and lack of limits, but when its influence reaches a certain level, "lack of limits" itself becomes a problem.

Joe Rogan is a product of this era and also a mirror of this era.

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