A study conducted by Bumper’s Dan Misener found out that Spotify is not recommending Joe Rogan’s podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), to new users.
In September 2020, Joe Rogan signed a multi-million deal for his podcast to be only available on Spotify. Since then, there have been several issues, mostly Spotify employees wanting the podcast to be censored and for Rogan to stop hosting guests that contradict mainstream narratives.
But Spotify has so far resisted censoring the podcast and it remains the most popular podcast globally.
However, the platform is not recommending the podcast to new users.
Misener analyzed 90,000 episodes of different podcasts and found that Spotify was recommending around 14% of podcasts, 6% of them adaptations or originals, and 8% exclusives.
Episodes of JRE were not part of the recommended podcasts. However, the platform is recommending podcasts where Rogan is the guest.
It is unclear why Spotify is not recommending JRE. Misener suggested it could be because the most popular podcast does not need to be recommended. But one can’t help but wonder if this is a clever way of shadow banning the podcast to appease the members of the news media who have called for him to be banned.
