- The Publish Press
- Posts
- Just How Popular Is Joe Rogan? 📻
Just How Popular Is Joe Rogan? 📻
Spotify reveals podcast follower counts
Good morning. YouTube TV just rolled out multiview support for iPhone and iPad right in time for March Madness. So if you’re trying to watch more than one basketball game at once (no matter where you are), good news: You now have several screens to sneak a glimpse.
Spotify Reveals Podcast Follower Counts
Spotify quietly rolls out short-form podcast clip scrolling (left) and the number of podcast listeners on their home pages (right) / Illustration by Moy Zhong
The headline: Spotify is testing a TikTok-like vertical feature that allows users to 1) preview podcast episodes through swipeable clips and 2) directly “follow” shows.
But the real kicker: In its rollout, this new tool has revealed podcasts’ Spotify follower counts publicly for the first time, according to Bloomberg.
So who’s No. 1? The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), with 14.5 million followers.
With 5 million followers, TED Talks Daily is a distant second.
Spotify original podcasts Call Her Daddy (CHD) and Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain appear in the top six.
Worth noting: The new feature only counts followers on Spotify. Some of the platform’s top shows, including JRE and CHD, were previously exclusive to Spotify but now publish episodes across platforms.
Why it matters: The public data confirms that, much like subscriber counts on YouTube, podcast audience size is not a direct indicator of revenue success.
Comedians Matt McCusker and Shane Gillis’ podcast only has 312,000 followers on Spotify, but it’s one of the most popular shows on Patreon.
Their over 86,000 paying Patreon subscribers “likely make” the duo “hundreds of thousands of dollars a month” from the membership platform, according to Bloomberg.
Zoom out: Despite suggestions that podcasting is past its prime as a creator outlet, the numbers are still there. In 2023, roughly 42 million people listened to podcasts on a monthly basis—up from 38 million the year before, according to Edison Research.
How These Food Creators Built a Restaurant Service Business
Rebecca Leigh West-Remmey (left) and Greg Remmey (right) run Devour Media and Devour Power / Devour Power
Creator-led food media business Devour Power, with its 6+ million followers across social, is more than just cheese pulls, juicy steaks, and runny yolks.
Behind the viral food videos, founders Greg Remmey and Rebecca Leigh West-Remmey have built a multi-six figure business helping restaurants make social content through their Devour Media.
Here’s how Devour works→
Greg runs the Devour Power account. He only features food he likes enough to share, giving him full creative freedom in the absence of comps or media invites.
Rebecca runs Devour Media, where she manages a team of seven full-time staff who create content and run social accounts for 75 restaurants nationwide.
“Both Greg and I have worked in restaurants, and that has really lent a hand to knowing how kitchens work and understanding what these owners want,” Rebecca told us. Some of their clients have been with them for over a decade.
The result: Devour Power acts as a discovery mechanism for Devour Media—Greg and Rebecca can leverage their large audiences to both find new Devour Media clients and share current clients’ stories.
“We’ve structured our business so that Devour Media can financially carry everything,” Rebecca said. “We’ve set it up so we can have seven people on salary, pay 401k and healthcare, float our lifestyle, and send our kids to school. The brand deals [for Devour Power] are icing on the cake because they’re so inconsistent.”
Sponsored by Spotter
Nail Your Next YouTube Title With Access to Title Exploder
Crafting click-worthy titles that accurately reflect your video’s content is a big part of your job as a creator. But finding that sweet spot between intrigue and integrity can feel pretty elusive.
Fortunately, Spotter has been developing a suite of AI software alongside top creators and AI experts to help. Take Title Exploder—it lets you generate a wide variety of compelling ideas. It intuitively combines the insights of your channel’s most popular uploads with the qualities of YouTube’s top-performing videos.
Sign up to see if you're eligible for access to Title Exploder today, and you'll also get updates on the latest tools from Spotter right when they drop.
Rhett and Link Give Out Full-Ride Scholarship
Rhett McLaughlin (left) and Link Neal (right) of Rhett & Link establish a scholarship at their alma mater / Colin and Samir
Last week, Rhett and Link established The Rhett & Link Engineering Innovation Scholarship Fund—a full-ride, two-year scholarship for students at their alma mater, North Carolina State University.
The scholarship will be available to third- and fourth-year engineering students to help them cultivate “a desire to learn and do new things, an appreciation of originality, and a tendency to not take yourself too seriously.”
Zoom out: Higher education is taking off with creators. MrBeast has taught a class at Harvard, and the Green Brothers run a program in partnership with Arizona State University to let people earn college credits through their Crash Course channel.
👀 Creator Moves
Creative studio Mad Realities is hiring a brand designer to produce assets across social.
Beauty creators Emira D’Spain and Ming Lee Simmons are hiring a talent manager based in NYC.
Feastables is hiring a social media coordinator to engage directly with audiences across platforms.
Looking to grow your creator biz? Post an opportunity on our job board.
🔥 Press Worthy
The Sidemen’s new cereal sold 100,000 boxes in its first two weeks.
YouTube was ordered by federal investigators to turn over data from users who were watching Bitcoin laundering videos.
Reddit stock jumped 48% on its first day of trading.
OpenAI looks to break into Hollywood movies.
Ryan’s World is releasing a movie in theaters.
Chad Wild Clay and Vy Qwaint opened a theme park, Spy Ninjas HQ, in Las Vegas.
The Green Brothers start a newsletter.
When you refer new readers to the Press, you earn merch from the Press Publish shop.
*Here’s your unique link to share: {{rp_refer_url}}
You currently have {{rp_num_referrals}} referrals. You're only {{rp_num_referrals_until_next_milestone}} away from receiving {{rp_next_milestone_name}}.
*Please do not use fake email addresses — they will not qualify as referrals. Thank you!