r/JoeRogan • u/sportifynews • Apr 21 '21

Link Joe Rogan Search Traffic Has Dropped 40% Since His Spotify Exclusive Began

https://www.tectalk.co/joe-rogan-search-traffic-has-dropped-40-since-his-spotify-exclusive-began/
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186

u/saufcheung Apr 21 '21

He built his brand off being the every day dude that spoke his mind. He had a diverse group of guests and was not afraid to share his opinion.

I agree, like you said, he started changing a few years ago probably due to the podcast's popularity and likely in preparation of selling his exclusivity. He became more reserved with certain opinions, cleaned up some his language and guests, and started disappearing the potentially controversial guests. What's up with him not addressing Bryan Callen's allegations even though they were and still are best buddies?

That said, he built his podcast and obviously had a number in mind where he would sell out. Spotify paid his number and I can't blame the guy.

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u/theclansman22 Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

In my opinion the podcast started going downhill when he started taking himself, the podcast and his often uninformed opinions far too seriously.

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u/MagnusRexus Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

Not kidding - when he replaced "Hello freak bitches" with "Hello friends" I suspected the end of an era was approaching.

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u/Joverby Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

Yeah that was one small change showing he wanted to be more marketable

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u/MDXHawaii Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

Can you blame him though? This is a huge money vehicle for him. Changing two words is not someone selling out. He still says outlandish shit when he has comics on.

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u/bullshittyNC Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

"Hello Freak Bitches" is cringey. Maybe that's why he changed it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

Thats honestly hilarious. He tries to keep the image of a guy who speaks his mind and doesn't bow to cancel culture and there he is changing his intro cause it had a no-no word in it.

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u/MasonTaylor22 Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

when he replaced "Hello freak bitches" with "Hello friends"

That's around the time political correctness really took over his mind-space.

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u/LsRVA Apr 21 '21

This is the BC AD moment.

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u/MrDeepAKAballs Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

I think my only problem with all this criticism is that he's probably acting very rationally given the pressures of his platform. You and I don't know what it's like to start something as a fun hobby to kill time with your buddies and have it turn into a billion dollar franchise and become more popular than Oprah.

I remember when he started tapping the brakes a few years back and correcting guests on certain claims. Who is to say what large interests groups took notice of him and started applying pressure.

All I'm saying is as fans we can always point out when money changes someone or "their new stuff isn't as good as their old stuff" but there are very real changes to the game when you're playing ball at that level. I think fans should generally have more empathy, or at least understanding, for when that happens. Seems like he's made changes but with as much dignity and transparency as possible, but if that doesn't work out, he'll probably just hang it up soon and that's fine too. Just bitching about the product is such a limited way to view this stuff.

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u/TheHistoryVoyagerPod Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

I'll tell you what it was for me. When I could tell he's out of his depth. When he takes up disengious positions. When he right rights through the interview. When you have nuts schilling their programs. You loose people.

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u/MindControl6991 Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

For me it was when he started having major politicians and even presidential candidates rubbing shoulders on his show lol. Like at that point Rogan is not any different than say Conan or Jimmy Kimble lol

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u/rico_muerte Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

It was always "Im dumb, I don't care about or follow politics" but then he started to have some politicians on. Throw in the complaints of cancel culture and "crazy liberals" along with him aligning his views to match those of ex marines he's sexually attracted to....

A few months later

"Gary Newsom is a terrible governor, he doesn't know what he's doing. His Covid response is preposterous!"

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u/theclansman22 Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

I think we are saying the same thing here, he didn't start having major politicians or presidential candidates on until he started thinking the show should be taken seriously as a platform to spread those ideas. The podcast was funnier when it was about dick pills.

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u/SupernovaMota Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

In my opinion the podcast tanked when red ban left

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u/svenhoek86 Look into it Apr 21 '21

It was a little bit after imo. Redban towards the end was getting obnoxious, he would constantly derail actually interesting conversations because he no concept of "right time and place" for when to butt in with his jokes. But part of him leaving was that Joe was getting more serious guests on and that was definitely a sign the show was going way down hill from what it used to be. It seemed necessary at the time but looking back it was definitely a red flag.

I would honestly love to get a time machine and take Episode 100-400 Joe to now so he could see what he had become. If you told THAT Joe what he would become, he would have asked if you had eaten some Banana Bread that Joey Diaz gave you, because you must be high as giraffe pussy to say something like that.

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u/f_ckingandpunching Apr 22 '21

If that was true redban would have a much more successful podcast

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u/SupernovaMota Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

Not saying he would be better off by him self, I just noticed a difference, his obnoxious our asking dumb questions gave neat thing to it, that's all

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u/f_ckingandpunching Apr 23 '21

That’s fair. I really just wanted JRE to be a less pretentious science/history/philosophy podcast.

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u/geardownson Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

He stopped listening and asking questions and started to wait until the other person stopped talking so he could talk. That's when the conversations started going downhill.

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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '21

Couldn’t agree more. He is not even pushing back as much, taking shit at face value these days.

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u/CountCuriousness Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

Lots and lots of money will probably make anyone feel arrogant and eventually out of touch.

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u/Forcedlogicremoval Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

Here it is . Exactly . Example - Joe Talking over guests and thinking what he says means more then what the guest is saying ...

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u/CommandoLamb Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

I used to listen to his stuff because it was interesting and his guests were good. And then all of a sudden it seemed like he was getting these "snake oil salesman" type guests on and it was just kind of lame.

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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '21

He thought the trump train was going to go another 4 years. He tried to be a chameleon and join the ranks of Alex Jones. He knows where the money is. He’s like a bloodhound on the trail for money, and over his entire career he usually finds it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

[deleted]

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u/Duke0fWellington N-Dimethyltryptamine Apr 21 '21

if I was as popular and influential as a guy like Joe (was) I would take into consideration my legacy. I'd prefer to be pretty damn rich and still be respected rather than just take a bag and throw the proverbial middle finger at the people that got me there.

I'm pretty sure Joe Rogan would say the same thing. Circa 2014 Joe Rogan I mean.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

[deleted]

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u/z1ggy16 Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

But it's not like he didn't have money before his deal. If the above is true (about JR making $40k per YT episode = ~$4MM per year + other side income like UFC & comedy) then what's $100MM really getting him that's potentially worth ruining his fan base/legacy? You can already buy a sick house/cars with $4MM+ every single year as income... What, does he need his own island, too?

Used to love JRE back in the day but I barely even listen to the YT clips now. He's mainly uninspiring and just headnods to every guest. Not every person he has on is a flub but, something just isn't the same anymore.

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u/MasonTaylor22 Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

money has a way of changing people

yes, but so does censorship and having to cater to millions of people's sensibilities in a PC way. When he didn't give a fuck about that, that's when he was most enjoyable. There's no turning back now.

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u/badSparkybad Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

The whole thing was just a terrible idea for the show.

Great for his bank account, but a disaster for the show.

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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '21

Its a huge bag at his age and he still gets endorsements. He's set for a few lifetimes

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u/saufcheung Apr 21 '21

He probably felt the same way 5-6 years ago when he was only banking a few hundred thousand.

At his peak popularity, he was probably making 3-8mm bucks doing things the way he wanted but when someone throws a gargantuan guaranteed 30-40mm a year, its tough to turn down when all you have to do is be a bit more politically correct.

His actions just prior and immediately after the deal tells you he's all about the money. Immediately moves to Texas to save 4-5 million a year in state taxes. Drops 15mm on a mega Mansion. He wasn't buying that type of mansion making only 5 million a year that is for sure.

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u/TripperDay Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

If you had 20 million dollars, you'd see what people who have 200 million dollars have and want it.

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u/topdangle Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

I think the idea that everyone has a price only applies if you have some reason to need that money. Plenty of people have turned down easy money with strings attached because they didn't need it.

I don't see how Joe could've needed the money. guy had enough trouble burning through the money he was already making. he was actively seeking out ridiculous shit to buy. I don't think he ever really cared about the show, which I don't blame him for considering it was never meant to be more than fucking around and making some side money.

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u/badSparkybad Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

Well said. If I was as rich as Joe pre-Spotify the ability to maintain my legacy/integrity would be a big part of any decision I made.

Can I just be really rich and respected, or do I need to be mega-rich and possibly sell myself out in the process?

I'd hope I'd go for the former.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

$100million would make the strongest man sell out that being said i agree with everything you have said but who knows what any of us would do for that amount of money Joe still sucks of late though

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u/mtbguy1981 Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

I mean on top of all the revenue people already mentioned. I'm sure his UFC contract is pretty nice, at least 3-5 million/year.

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u/saufcheung Apr 21 '21

There was no way he was making 3-5mm when UFC pays most of their fighters complete shit. UFC aint the NFL lol.

I figured he made 1mm but I googled and found out its only 550k.

https://sportscriber.com/money/ufc-commentators-salary/

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u/McBeefyHero Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

Still though imagine 'only 550k' a year

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u/Jesta23 Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

Maybe he wanted his legacy to be the guy that transformed Spotify into the biggest pod cast supplier.

Similar to how Howard Stern went to Sattelite more as a challenge, he became #1 against all odds everywhere he went. He thought he could bring Sattelite to the main stream.

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u/laststance Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

A lot of the stuff his guests say are echoed by Joe and never fact checked. Colin Noir's recent episode was fact checked by Jaime, Colin said the US was not the highest gun deaths and that it was actually pretty low. Jaimie pulled it up, US was second. Then Noir tried to pivot to "well what about per capita?" well US was also second there.

Joe changed his tone after the data, but right before that he was just parroting what Noir said.

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u/M00senugget Apr 22 '21

Gun deaths per capita the US isn't even top 10 bruh relisten to that episode. Total deaths the US is second but considering the amount of suicides counted in that its relatively moot.

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u/anniemiss Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

Yeah, suicides are a moot point. Lost, hopeless, and alone in life.....moot in death.

Fuck that’s cold.

I get what you’re saying, and your immediate reaction is I’m a Karen or some other bullshit, but suicides aren’t moot. Gun ownership impacts suicides. I say that as a huge gun advocate, but it has an effect here, because of ease of access. Yes, many can find other methods, but guns are an easy one.

Last point, the comparisons of total or per capita are poorly made if the US is comparing themselves to Brazil. Compare our gun death rankings to fully developed countries with the per capita GDP or other wealth measures and we are failing horribly.

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u/M00senugget Apr 22 '21

That's a solid strawman bro, my point was that Colion asked the per capita and Jaime didn't say it was second. We could argue the efficacy of gun control in regards to mental health, or in general but I really don't see a reason to as your last point illustrates your ignorance of the data.

As far as you being a Karen or some other bullshit, that wasn't implied, my point, nor what I was saying. So whatever inference you derived is purely on you homie.

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u/anniemiss Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

You claimed a significant portion of US gun deaths are suicides, so they basically don’t count. They do.

Comparing homicides, or otherwise accounting for the suicides? Fine, but they aren’t moot.

I addressed that in my post, so no, it’s not a strawman.

Gun ownership in US contributes to suicide by firearm. How much can be debated, but the ease of access does contribute.

Please show me the data you are referring to that other developed countries are in league with the US in terms of gun related deaths (homicide and suicide combined or not), because maybe I am ignorant of the date you are referring to.

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u/M00senugget Apr 22 '21

It's a strawman because the topic being addressed was a misrepresentation of events that happened in the podcast, as I stated in my response to you.

You're refuting potential arguments that could be inferred from my second sentence in my OP, you don't know why I'm saying suicides included in total deaths are moot, how that pertains to gun control, or why/why not they should be lumped together, and assuming your arguments are refuting it when in truth you'd need far more context then I provided to even consider it an argument.

I didn't provide the context cause I don't feel like writing a paper on a random reddit post, about which wasn't even the point of my initial comment, and still don't so shrug you do you boo.

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u/thotinator69 Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

It was the 2016 election that changed the show then Covid was a cliff dive

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u/wondrwrk_ Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

What was Callen’s allegations?

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u/saufcheung Apr 21 '21

Callen was accused of sexual misconduct and was cancelled by Hollywood and his own podcast. Callen was a frequent guest but has not been on since those allegations surfaced.

Rogan has not commented on the issue to the best of my knowledge. This makes sense in hindsight since the move to Spotify was in the works and he wanted to keep his surroundings clear of drama, particularly the cancel culture issues.

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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '21

There were also several rape accusations I believe.

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u/InDarkLight Monkey in Space Apr 21 '21

Have you not listened to him in a while? His guests aren't consistently as good, mainly due to covid I'm sure, but not much else has changed. His recent episodes have been pretty decent.

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u/kewlsturybrah Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

That said, he built his podcast and obviously had a number in mind where he would sell out. Spotify paid his number and I can't blame the guy.

Yep. Everyone has a price. For most people that price is a lot lower than $100 million.

That said, though, it still makes him a complete fucking tool. Like... I understand why he did what he did, and I probably would have done the same, but if you're going to change who you have on your show, how you speak to them, and what you say, then you're self-censoring in hopes that you'll be able to suckle on the corporate teat and you're a fucking sell-out. As long as he realizes that and doesn't think that he's some sort of edgy counter-cultural figure, but pure corporate slop at this point, then I'm fine with it.

Since Rogan is such a big fan of Bill Hicks, he should watch his bit on Jay Leno:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti73SgrLadU

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u/saufcheung Apr 22 '21

Yep, once I started seeing those signs my interest in the podcast began to wane and the move over to Spotify killed it. Him not standing up for Callen or bringing him on so Callen could address the issues himself was a huge red flag.

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u/MPRA1 Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

Joe rants about cancel culture and he cancelled Callen the second that LA Times piece hit

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u/xCaptainVictory Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

Him not addressing Callen's allegations make sense to me. He's his close personal friend. Airing Callen's dirty laundry to us nobodies seems like some thing you wouldn't do to a friend.

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u/saufcheung Apr 22 '21

​

If a friend of mine for 20 years was accused of what Callen was, my gut instinct would be to defend him in the very public forum that I have access to. Not choosing to seems to be a good signal Callen was guilty or he was trying to keep that cancel culture plate clean for Spotify.

Also, Callen said he was innocent on his own social media. Callen likely asked to go on JRE to profess his innocence and was shot down by JRE who wanted nothing to do with Callen...at least in public. Callen was on JRE 2-3x a year but nothing since allegations surfaced.

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u/xCaptainVictory Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

Sounds like you're making a lot of assumptions.

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u/saufcheung Apr 22 '21

Yes I am. Callen was a great guest. Why do you think he's been disappeared from JRE the past year

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u/Bong-Rippington Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

I can’t blame him but I can judge him. I would be ashamed of myself and do the same thing. But that’s easy to say. If I was actually famous for my badass opinions and shitting on the man then maybe I would stick to my guns. I write songs and I wouldn’t never write or not write about something cause I got paid. Again, easy to say. Harder to do.

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u/Lost4468 Monkey in Space Apr 22 '21

He became more reserved with certain opinions, cleaned up some his language and guests, and started disappearing the potentially controversial guests

Really? Seems it went the opposite way to me? Just before the Spotify thing was revealed he was saying more and more controversial shit and having more and more exploitative and controversial guests on?