Joe Rogan‘s podcast is the biggest, most influential podcast in the world by far. So much so that it can influence the Presidential elections and rival the dominance of legacy media networks. But that wasn’t always so. In fact, die-hard fans will remember the days when Rogan used to do the show in his home with horrible production quality when it first started nearly a decade and a half ago.

And it seems the lack of production quality had a good reason- it just wasn’t making money. Rogan started ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ podcast in 2009, back when there wasn’t much money in it. Still, Rogan was able to get a sponsor the next year- Fleshlight- but apparently the podcast’s finances were still in the red.

“Pretty weird that I didn’t even try [to have an impact on the world]. That’s the weird hat’s the weirdest part. It was all an accident like 100% like I just felt like this is what I should do- I should start a podcast and then I should keep doing it even when it was totally non-profitable for like five years. I was like ‘I like doing it, let’s just keep doing it,” Rogan told guest Bert Sorin on his JRE podcast.

Rogan, of course, had a lot on his plate back then. He was still a stand-up comedian and a UFC commentator. Then why did he continue doing the podcast even though it cost him money? Well, there is a good reason for that- he just loved doing it and continued for the sheer passion of the whole thing.

“But once you figure out a thing that you’re really passionate about then you’ll become successful if you just keep following it. But the thing about the podcast thing was, I managed to keep the same spirit of just doing what I enjoy doing,” Rogan added on episode #2242 of the JRE podcast. And that patience and tenacity would pay off handsomely in the end.

How the 2024 election became the ‘podcast election’ because of Joe Rogan

In 2020, Joe Rogan signed the biggest deal in the history of podcasts worth $200 million with streaming service Spotify. That was the first real indication of just how big and powerful Rogan’s platform really was, and brought podcasts to mainstream consciousness in an unprecedented way.

Indeed, the 2024 election has been termed as the ‘Podcast election’ by some commentators because of just how many podcasts the Presidential candidates, especially Donald Trump and his VP candidate (now VP-elect) JD Vance went on. And for good reason! The American public, especially young people do not watch cable news or read newspapers as their parents might have. Instead, an increasing number of them get their news online through podcasts and their favorite political commentators.

JRE segment #2219 featuring the now President-elect was one of the most pivotal pop culture moments of the modern age with demands erupting for the duo to finally appear face to face from a long time. In fact, one of the talking points after Kamala Harris lost was that the left needed its own Rogan.

All of this is to say that in the podcasting space, no one is more influential or has a bigger fan base than Joe Rogan. What do you think about Joe Rogan’s revelations about the early financial struggles of the JRE podcast?