According to a recently published study, the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) remains the most popular podcast in the US, despite facing mainstream media criticism and a few controversies related to censorship. Similar studies from 2020 also placed JRE in the No.1 position.
A study by Edison Research found out that JRE was the most popular podcast in the US by weekly listeners in both Q3 2020 and Q2 2020. The research firm surveyed more than 8,000 podcast listeners aged 18 and above.
The research focused on “actual listening, not downloads.” The participants said the names of the podcasts they listen to on a weekly basis.
“The results are then coded and analyzed to ascertain the genre, network, and sales representation for each podcast,” specified the researchers. “The relative audience size of each podcast network is then calculated and expressed as the percentage of weekly podcast listeners reached by that network.”
The Joe Rogan Experience is exclusively streamed on Spotify, after the Sweden-based streaming company acquired exclusive rights last year. Since then, the show has faced several censorship-related controversies. For instance, some controversial episodes from before are not available on Spotify. Additionally, there were internal issues where some employees wanted an editorial review of the show’s episode to remove controversial comments by the host and his guests.
Despite the controversies and criticism, the show has remained the most popular podcast. The show was the only Spotify-exclusive show in the top 10 list.
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