Joe Rogan finally returns to YouTube and it’s a massive hit

Joe Rogan has made his return to YouTube following the end of his Spotify exclusivity, and things have been going rather well for the podcasting giant. 

Back in mid-2020, Joe Rogan made a massive move by giving Spotify a “multi-year” exclusivity deal on the Joe Rogan Experience. The podcast went behind the streaming platform’s paywall in September of the same year and quickly brought about some change for both him and Spotify. 

Previously, Spotify didn’t have a video element, but Rogan’s arrival meant that had to change, and the podcast host got a new studio to mark the new era. 

After some ups and downs on Spotify, the UFC commentator had been tipped to leave Spotify in early 2024, but ended up penning another multi-year deal with them. However, he’s not beholden to the streaming platform and can publish his podcasts anywhere he wants. 

Joe Rogan’s return to YouTube brings in massive numbers

Episodes of the JRE Podcast started popping up on places like Apple Podcasts, Podbean, and others in early February, but the same couldn’t be said for YouTube. 

The video platform had, previously, been Rogan’s biggest outlet for the podcast, racking up tens of millions of views for each new episode. 

That has since changed with the arrival of March, however, as he’s started uploading episodes beginning with episode 2111 – his long-awaited chat with comedian Katt Williams. That upload has, as of writing, gotten over 13 million views, and become one of Rogan’s most-watch episodes. The rest of his episodes are averaging around 2 million views as well, which isn’t shabby. 

There hasn’t been any sort of difference in time between YouTube and Spotify uploads, so you’re not going to get the jump on anyone else by choosing one platform over another. 

It also remains to be seen if episodes from his Spotify back catalog will appear on YouTube anytime soon too. Neither Rogan nor the streaming platform have given any indication about that yet, however.