October 3rd, 2023, Christien Pheby
The Joe Rogan Experience has recently attracted headlines for being the UK’s most listened-to podcast. Altogether, it’s not too surprising: whether it’s Elon Musk smoking weed on the programme, or the host making controversial remarks about COVID-19 vaccines, it is rarely out of the news.
So with International Podcast Day on September 30, it’s worth asking: Who is listening to The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE)? And using the unrivalled granularity of YouGov Profiles GB, we can reveal that the answer, more or less, is: men.
It also skews rather young: some 56% of adult JRE listeners are aged 18-34 (compared to 28% of the general public), while 37% are aged 35-54 (vs. 34%), and just 7% are over-55 (vs. 38%). Just 32% are parents compared to some 61% of the public.
Joe Rogan listeners are disproportionately likely to be single (51% vs. 23% of the public), and disproportionately unlikely to be married (25% vs. 43%). Financially speaking, 24% are lower income – meaning they earn less than 75% of the median income – compared to 26% of the public; 39% are middle income vs. 34% of the public, and 16% are higher income vs. 18% of the public.
But outside of demographic data, what makes Joe Rogan listeners different from the general public? Looking at a range of attitude statements – where consumers are presented with a statements and asked if they agree or disagree – reveals some stark deviations.
What do Joe Rogan listeners think?
Given Rogan’s male-dominated audience, it’s important to make sure that we’re not simply highlighting differences between men and women. Men, for example, are slightly more likely than women to agree that they exercise at least once a week (61% vs. 56%) – but JRE listeners are significantly more likely than both to agree that they do so (82%). They’re also more likely to say they aspire to the idea of being fit and healthy (JRE: 92%; Men: 69%; Women: 77%), that it’s important to stay looking young (JRE: 66%; Men: 45%; Women: 47%) and that it’s fine to take supplements without a doctor’s recommendation (JRE: 59%; Men: 43%; Women: 44%).
These attitudes aren’t too shocking: Rogan has had several health, nutrition, and fitness-focused guests on the podcast, and serves as a co-founder and spokesperson for Onnit, a health and fitness brand that sells fitness equipment and nootropics such as “Alpha Brain”.
JRE listeners also diverge from the general public in their attitudes towards women. While two-thirds of men (65%) and more than four in five women (83%) agree that the sexes aren’t treated equally in the workplace, this falls to just two in five (41%) Rogan fans. This group are also disproportionately likely to believe that “beauty means thin” (JRE: 45%; Men: 22%; Women: 27%).
Looking at sports, while Britons (Men: 54%; Women; 73%) agree that tennis tournaments should offer equal prizes to competitors regardless of gender, this falls to just 36% of JRE listeners. This may be a byproduct of their broader attitudes towards women’s sports: 72% of the podcast’s listeners believe that women’s sports are not as exciting as men’s, compared to 44% of men and 27% of women.
Joe Rogan listeners are broadly of a more entrepreneurial bent – some 61% agree that they “would love” to start their own business, next to 40% of men and 35% of women – but they are also more likely to confess anxieties about their careers: 61% are worried about the direction of their professional lives, compared to 36% of men and 36% of women.
Looking at a few statements about recreation, 40% of Rogan listeners view themselves as gamers, compared to 29% of men and 14% of women – Rogan himself, for what it’s worth, has quit video games entirely and now describes them as “addictive” and a “waste of time”. They are also more likely to say that betting helps them feel more engaged with their sports of choice (JRE: 34%; Men: 20%; Women: 10%). Profiles data also shows us that Joe Rogan listeners are more likely to think drug laws are more harmful than drugs themselves (JRE: 55%; Men: 36%; Women: 27%), and that cryptocurrencies are the future of online transactions (JRE: 30%; Men: 20%; Women: 16%).
Finally, in perhaps our most unsurprising finding, given the overt disdain Rogan – who last year claimed that COVID vaccines can alter your genetic material – has expressed for the mainstream media, just 12% of his fans trust newspapers to tell the truth. By comparison, 29% of men and 25% of women feel the same.
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Methodology
YouGov Profiles is based on continuously collected data and rolling surveys, rather than from a single limited questionnaire. Profiles data for Great Britain is nationally representative of the online population and weighted by age, gender, education, region, and race. Learn more about Profiles.