How MeidasTouch is Fixing a 2024 Dem Problem– And Why Legacy Media Isn’t Cheering
A few months ago, Joe Rogan and his podcast audience numbers were thought to be untouchable.
It’s not all bad news.
Media evolution is the story of one industry disruption after another. Printing press. Radio. Network TV. Local TV. Cable TV. The internet. Websites. Blogs. YouTube. Podcasts. Social media. Substack (hey, that’s us!)
The turnover at which today’s shiny media delivery object becomes yesterday’s news is accelerating – a thrilling development for some, but a daunting one for many more and, of course, democracy. Players who think ahead, understand tech, know their audience and potential audience, make bold decisions and keep revenue flowing are best positioned to compete as the media industry continues to adapt.
Nimble media players who blend compelling and breaking content with regular programming, eye-catching graphic design, quick-yet-professional video editing, a mix of humor and real-talk, low overhead, strategic advertising and round-the-clock revenue generation while breaking corporate and editorial bottlenecks will emerge at the forefront of the media race. Call it doing everything, everywhere, all at once. Succeeding in today’s media landscape takes a special touch.
You might even call it a… MeidasTouch.
Yes, Rogan’s Big Audience Boosted Trump’s Prospects
There is no question that Joe Rogan dominated the podcast space in the 2024 campaign. And there is no question that Donald Trump’s prospects of returning to the Oval Office while under four indictments and pending sentencing for 34 felony convictions was boosted by Rogan’s support of Trump and well-timed show appearances by Trump campaign principals.
Donald Trump’s two hour, 58 minute and 50-second appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE) on October 25, just 11 days before Election Day, has 58 million views on YouTube. Some views were after Election Day, of course, but you get the idea… a lot of people saw it.
JD Vance’s three hour, 17 minute and 21-second interview on JRE on October 31, five days before Election Day, has 20 million views on YouTube. That’s far more people than should ever suffer the misery of watching JD Vance.
Notably, the Trump campaign dispatched Elon Musk for his own two hour, 38 minute and 40-second appearance on JRE the day before the election. Musk’s interview has 20 million views on YouTube.
Trump’s full interview was the second most-watched JRE YouTube video of all time, bested only by a 2019 interview with Bob Lazar and Jeremy Corbell. The UFO confab has nearly 64 million views.
In the final 11 days of the campaign, Rogan filmed and posted nearly nine hours of unfiltered Trump campaign infomercial content in full cheerleader mode. Shorter clips of Trump, Musk and Vance were picked up by conservative outlets and shared by the Trump campaign on social media.
No, VP Harris Did Not Lose Because She Declined To Kiss Rogan’s Ring
To say that Rogan had little-to-no impact on the 2024 election would be bullshit. Equal bullshittery is to allege that VP Harris lost because she did not appear on Rogan’s show.
Those who push this bizarre theory wrongly assume an automatic Harris benefit from this hypothetical interview. A three-ish hour sitdown with a de facto Trump campaign surrogate was a wild card that the Harris campaign would have had to have been desperate to play.
And the upside of this desperate play would have been what, exactly? His big audience? Yes, a big audience of Trump supporters. A big, 83 percent male audience of Trump supporters. Sure, there were some persuadable voters in Rogan’s millions of followers, but to suggest with any degree of confidence that The Joe Rogan Experience would have been a positive experience for Harris and her campaign is not hindsight–it’s hogwash.
Rogan’s demeanor toward Trump, Musk and Vance was predictable. Jovial. Bro-like. Birds of a feather. Four guys you could absolutely see palling around, whining that they can’t use the n-word, which Rogan did 24 times on his show. (Yes, he apologized. He also complained about “context” and cast himself as a victim.) And he declared who can and who cannot call themselves Black. Rogan’s corporate sugar daddies at Spotify quietly removed more than 100 episodes of his podcast from their archive, and 270 medical professionals called him a “menace to public health.”
Democrats indeed had a podcast problem in 2024. But our problem was not that a sitting vice president declined to debase herself on pro-Trump platforms. Our problem was that we lacked progressive platforms with remotely competitive reach.
How MeidasTouch Dethroned Rogan
In November (reflected in podscribe.com’s December-released rankings), The Joe Rogan Experience boasted 60.3 million views and downloads per month, while MeidasTouch had a lower but still respectable 43.2 million. Both podcasts undoubtedly had an off-the-charts first week of November, with the election on November 5.
The next month, riding a wave of free media that all but canonized him as kingmaker, Rogan’s views and downloads per month fell to 56.6 million. It would seemingly require an act of self-sabotage to have Rogan’s level of free, gushing and widespread publicity and still see numbers drop. But given the post-campaign hangover and the holidays, a significant drop in audience should be expected across the board. To be fair, MeidasTouch fell to 28.8 million in December as many progressives unplugged. (podscribe.com’s exact dates for this ranking were Dec 4 to Jan 3.) Given the expected media lull in over this time frame, Rogan’s numbers held up well, boosted both by the free media and his pro-Trump audience’s continued engagement following what was, for them, a favorable election result.
February’s rankings told a different story; in fact, those rankings told an earth-shattering story. As we reported at the time, “The MeidasTouch Podcast is the new #1 podcast according to Podscribe industry rankings, growing by 101 percent(!) to 57.7 million downloads and views per month. Rogan’s podcast, meanwhile, is down 25 percent to 50.3 million, falling to the #2 spot.”
The following month, MeidasTouch continued on a rocket’s trajectory, surpassing 100 million views and downloads per month. As of this writing, podscribe.com’s Live Rankings show Rogan at 46.0 million views and downloads per month, nearly a 25 percent drop from November. The MeidasTouch Podcast, meanwhile, remains north of 100 million, more than double that of The Joe Rogan Experience.
A few months ago, Rogan and his audience numbers were thought to be untouchable. The breathtaking speed at which MeidasTouch not only closed the gap but surpassed him is mind-blowing and damn welcome during a tough time. Rarely do progressives course-correct so quickly. Big props to the three Meiselas brothers.
What’s Next For Joe-Ro
Joe Rogan will face steep challenges to regrow his audience to 2024 levels. MAGA voters have a distinct pattern of disengaging in droves whenever Trump is not on the ballot. (Knock on wood that Trump doesn’t get around the Constitution on THAT one…) After 16 years doing the same thing, Rogan is hardly an innovator, and his ballpark $250 million contract from Spotify provides him no incentive to hustle, though it will provide him cover the next time he says something horrendous.
Just shy of the 100-day mark of Trump’s second administration, progressive Americans are more engaged and more strident in their opposition to Trump’s agenda than the MAGA crowd is in support of it. Resistors are buckling down, organizing in digital and offline spaces and fighting relentlessly in opposition to Trump’s agenda. Even diehard MAGA supporters – many of them Rogan listeners or former listeners, no doubt – are getting hammered across the country by Trump’s tariffs and general bad Trump leadership. When folks are engaged, they tune in.
Why Legacy Media Won’t Be Cheering MeidasTouch’s Success
The Alt Media will continue to cover the MeidasTouch story, as we have done here, here and here.
Legacy media has unsurprisingly underplayed this major story, stopping well short of giving MeidasTouch the credit it deserves for doing something unthinkable at the turn of the new year. But here’s a little secret: Joe Rogan has been podcasting for 16 years. Legacy media could cheer on Joe Rogan because he merely coexisted with them.
MeidasTouch’s disruption and innovation, however, pulls away legacy media consumers who are kinda tired of news that claims to hold Trump accountable but really doesn’t. For MeidasTouch to be garnering over 100 million views and downloads per month, then a lot of those folks are moving from somewhere. And that somewhere isn’t happy about it.
As more and more Americans engage in activism to resist Donald Trump’s destruction of our country and our world, they’re becoming greater consumers of news content. Where will they find the content to match their activism?
Certainly not from The Washington Post, for instance, where owner Jeff Bezos personally killed the paper’s planned endorsement of VP Harris last year because he didn’t want to upset Trump. The paper that uncovered Watergate quite tellingly buried its own motto – Democracy dies in darkness – days before its billionaire owner took his stage seat on Oligarchs’ Row (seat price: $1 million to Trump’s inauguration committee) to witness Trump unironically swear to defend the Constitution.
The tens of thousands of hardworking and fed up folks finding their way to rallies held by Bernie Sanders and AOC and the millions who are coming out organically to protest Trump’s tariffs, DOGEshit, abandonment of Europe and human rights abuses against our own people… they may find their way to WaPo’s Fort Knox paywall. But they’re not paying the toll of corporate America’s most notorious union buster, particularly when there is free and better content available from MeidasTouch, Substack creators and similar sources unencumbered by greed.
And then there’s MSNBC’s monumental act of cowardice and capitulation. Morning Joe lovebirds Joe and Mika kissed Donald Trump’s ring at Mar-A-Lago after the election. It was unnecessary and it was gross. Worse, NBC announced four weekday hosts of color would have their shows canceled (Katie Phang, Alex Wagner, José Díaz-Balart and Joy Ann Reid) while two weekend hosts of color would have their solo shows canceled (Jonathan Capehart and Ayman Mohyeldin).
We’re not privy to the stats, but we’d wager that a good number of former MSNBC loyalists have found a new home at The MeidasTouch Network.
The Bottom Line
When Trump took office a second time, many chose Trump accommodation. MeidasTouch chose Trump accountability. Guess whose audience is growing?
Our congrats and thanks to Ben, Brett and Jordy Meiselas. We are wishing you continued, unapologetic, pro-democracy success. Follow The MeidasTouch Podcast to help keep them #1. Watch on YouTube or subscribe on Apple or Spotify.
MeidasTouch Is Now #1 Podcast, Beating Out Joe Rogan
The right wing has long outpaced progressives in the podcast realm, but that is changing—fast.
Meidas Touch is like chicken soup for the soul. Nourishing and delicious 💙
Boys, keep it rolling.
America was not “ready" for Barack Obama. America will never be “ready” for anyone who is not a straight white elderly male. Not until we force the issue and become the supporters of the next generation in word, deed, and vote. I'm in.