For decades, Howard Stern has been “The King of All Media.” If you believe that’s still the case, you couldn’t be more wrong. Joe Rogan holds the throne now.
2024 was the Year of Joe Rogan. Which is saying something, because you could probably argue every year since 2020 has been the Year of Joe Rogan.
The Joe Rogan Experience has been a dominant player in the podcast space. There are few other shows, if any, that command the audience that the comedian and UFC commentator does.
But as part of a new deal with Spotify, Rogan has been able to increase his media presence on YouTube in 2024. And that has made all the difference in earning the title of King of All Media away from Howard Stern. His channel has nearly 19 million subscribers on the platform while his backup channel, JRE Clips, features almost 8 million additional subscribers. According to figures quietly released by Spotify earlier this year, the show has 14.5 million followers on the app. And that was before the high-profile discussions with the Republican presidential ticket.
Rogan earned massive audiences on the digital video app during his conversations with Donald Trump and JD Vance. But they weren’t the only episodes that saw big viewership totals. Even conversations with more mundane subjects earned more than 3 million viewers on YouTube.
But how did Joe Rogan rise to the top of the media ecosystem? Well, he used the same three qualities that Howard Stern did.
Curiosity
I’m a big fan of the AppleTV+ show Ted Lasso. One of the resounding themes of the happy-go-lucky, loveable main character is his phrase “Be curious. Not judgmental.” It’s a motto I attempt to live by.
And Joe Rogan’s curiosity has propelled him to digital media stardom. Does that curiosity lead him into trouble at times? Undoubtedly. But that’s part of what makes Rogan endearing. He is curious about a variety of topics. He’s built an audience that is both curious about the topics but also about what Rogan’s thoughts on any given subject are.
Like Rogan, Stern is curious, too. He’s famous for asking inappropriate questions of the biggest newsmakers in the entertainment space. But they don’t come — at least in my opinion — from a place of depravity as much as he’s genuinely curious about people. That’s what Rogan has hung his hat on in recent years.
While discussing why an interview with Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris never came to fruition, Rogan shared that he wanted to do a longer discussion than the one-hour timeslot the campaign offered.
“I feel like if you give someone a couple of hours when you start talking about anything, I’m gonna see the pattern of the way you think,” he said. “I’m gonna see the way you process ideas. I’m gonna see whether or not you’re calculated or whether you’re just free. Or are you comfortable with you? Or are you projecting things?”
“My sincere wish is to just have a nice conversation and get to know her as a human being. I really hope we can make it happen,” he later added.
That’s coming from a place of sincere curiosity. And people respond positively to questions that genuinely seek information.
Authenticity
That need from Rogan to genuinely seek information is part of the authenticity he exudes, much like Stern. Howard Stern isn’t the sell-out many in conservative media today paint him to be. He’s simply a changed man. People change. They’re supposed to change throughout life. If you don’t, it says much more about you than it does him.
But Stern is still authentic and true to himself. And so is Rogan. He’s unapologetically himself. It’s a key to any form of media success. Listeners, viewers, or consumers — however they’re digesting your content — have a BS meter. They know when you’re telling the truth, they know when you’re lying, and they know when you’re saying something you don’t actually believe.
Joe Rogan, for better or worse, doesn’t ever say anything he doesn’t believe. Just like Howard Stern.
Indifference
Finally, Joe Rogan built his following largely by the IDGAF (if you don’t know the acronym, click here) attitude that Stern once exuded on terrestrial radio.
Many people are insecure. They don’t know or don’t like who they are. Rogan doesn’t fall in that camp. He knows who he is, what he does, what he means, and isn’t afraid to wield that power. So for those people who are insecure, they wish they could have that same “I don’t care what anyone thinks of me” attitude that people like Rogan and Stern have. They long for the ability to be so confident in themselves and their ability that they can show “the man” the double bird and not think twice about it.
And that “give a damn’s busted” mantra that Rogan has plays so insanely well in today’s digital media sphere. If you look at the average age of Rogan’s audience, it is noticeably younger than those of more traditional forms of media. He’s the perfect spokesman for younger millennials who are so notoriously afraid of conflict, while also appealing to Gen Z and their general disdain for any authority or longstanding institutions.
So, if Joe Rogan exudes the same three attributes that Howard Stern did and still does, how did he replace the longstanding titan on top of the media world?
It’s simple: Rogan took those three qualities — the same three qualities that led Stern to stardom — and did them on emerging platforms. He saw where the shift in the media space was going, and pounced on them like a starving man on a Christmas ham. Joe Rogan was ahead of the curve. And that’s how he replaced Howard Stern as The King of All Media.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
