When comedian and TV host Joe Rogan launched his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, over 10 years ago, he probably didn't realize that a decade later, he'd be the highest-paid podcaster in the world. According to Forbes magazine, Joe is at the top of their inaugural list of The Highest-Earning Podcasters, as the famous media personality raked in a whopping $30 million last year.
Senior vice president at Edison Research, Tom Webster, told Forbes that Rogan is “delivering scale and engagement” that puts him at “no. 1 in terms of reach in the U.S.” Hosts of the uber popular My Favourite Murder podcast, Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, are sitting just below him at the no. 2 spot, who made $15 million in 2019 off their podcast. The list was determined using “earnings figures include revenue from advertising on a host’s flagship program only, as well as ancillary revenue from touring, paid memberships and other media (like books and YouTube videos) derived from it." These estimates are based on data from Apple, Stitcher, Magellan AI, Edison, and Pollstar, as well as interviews with industry insiders.
It's hardly a surprise that someone like Joe Rogan would top such a list. The Youtube channel for The Joe Rogan Experience, which was first established in 2013, has accumulated over 7.39 million subscribers and has garnered over 1.8 billion views total. In 2019 alone, the host interviewed plenty of fascinating figures, such as Mike Tyson, UFO believer and alleged Area 51 worker Bob Lazar, Kevin Hart, Robert Downey Jr., and more. While his most-viewed interview of the year was Alex Jones, Joe's sit-down with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders received plenty of attention, particularly due to Joe's later endorsement of him for the 2020 U.S. election. Bernie received some backlash for Joe's public support of him, as many brought up Joe's past transphobic and homophobic comments.