‘Brocasters' Like Joe Rogan and Theo Von Have Listeners in a Chokehold
The term — which calls to mind hourslong interviews with frequent references to health supplements, classical philosophy or mixed martial arts — has broken through on social media over the last year, as clips from brocasters have become harder to escape than a full nelson.
Though Mr. Rogan and Mr. Von had been peripheral figures in American pop culture for decades — Mr. Rogan hosted NBC's gross-out game show, 'Fear Factor,' starting in 2001, and Mr. Von made his debut on MTV's 'Road Rules' a year earlier — both podcasters hit critical mass last year when they interviewed Donald J. Trump during the run-up to the presidential election.
How it's pronounced
On average, Mr. Rogan's podcast reached over 20.1 million listeners a week last year, making it the No. 1 podcast in the world for the sixth straight year, said Melissa Kiesche, a senior vice president at Edison Research. And its audience increased in the last quarter, during the election season.
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