FROM MMA TO MSM:

In 2009, the same year as Cronkite's death, Joe Rogan started his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. On it, Rogan interviews comedians, UFC fighters, scientists, philosophers, celebrities, journalists, and, increasingly, candidates for president of the United States. From the 2020 Democratic field, he's already spoken to Andrew Yang, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, and, earlier this month, Senator Bernie Sanders.

Rogan's hour-long conversation with Sanders began with them commiserating about the format of the 2020 primary debates. "You shouldn't even call them a debate," intoned the second highest polling Democratic candidate. "What they are is a reality TV show in which you have to come up with a sound bite and all that stuff. And it's demeaning to the candidates, and its demeaning to the American people. You can't explain the complexity of health care in America in 45 seconds. Nobody can."

"But everyone is online today. I mean the entire country is essentially getting email and Facebook and all that jazz. Like, why bother doing it in this particular medium that has an inherent time constraint?" asked Rogan. "The ability to discuss things in long-form like you can do online, like you can do right here right now, you can't get that on television."

Rogan is right. Even long-form television interviews, given an hour time slot, are comprised of spliced together clips, all edited, with voiceovers interjecting commentary after the fact, featuring commercial interruptions every few minutes.

Meanwhile, episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience often run for two to three hours. These conversations are unedited, with ad reads only before and after they're conducted. Even if Rogan or a guest has to leave to use bathroom, the record button stays on. It's through this extended, personal interaction that Rogan is able to make guests comfortable and provide them with an opportunity to speak informally and at length.

Americans want more of what Rogan is offering, and the proof is in the pudding. For example, Bernie Sanders' debate performance in June was watched by 18 million people on three separate television networks. He spoke for 11 minutes. At the July debate, Sanders was able to speak for over 17 and a half minutes. But that one, carried only by CNN, had a paltry viewership of only 8.7 million.

Meanwhile, Sanders' 67-minute conversation with Rogan, where the senator spoke the vast majority of the time, has been viewed on YouTube over 9.3 million times. And that isn't including podcast downloads: The Joe Rogan Experience has been the second most downloaded podcast on Apple for the past two years. While official numbers are not made public, it's been hinted that Rogan gets over 100 million downloads a month. So where was Sanders' time better spent?

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