Indian Podcaster Raj Shamani Passes Rogan at 22M Subscribers

Growth sped up this year. The show has added 8 million YouTube subscribers since January and now generates roughly 1.4 billion monthly views across platforms. International viewers make up 22% of its YouTube subscriber base.

The milestone points to a wider shift in the creator economy, the market of independent video makers who earn money through platforms such as YouTube. Creators outside traditional Western media markets are reaching global audiences directly.

Guests and business plans

The show books guests from business, politics, science and entertainment. This year they have included French President Emmanuel Macron, neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman, business professor Dr. Scott Galloway and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

During his appearance, Altman said India had overtaken the United States as ChatGPT's largest market.

Shamani is the founder of Figuring Out Media. Through that company he wants to build a broader global media business, develop commercial partnerships and take its content to more international viewers.

He said the podcast began with a simple aim: to understand how successful and influential people think, and to share those insights widely. He also said the platform rests on the belief that access to knowledge should not depend on someone's family background, hometown or social connections.

"When I started Figuring Out in a small room in Indore, I had one obsession: understanding how the world's most extraordinary people think, what they know that the rest of us don't, and what makes them different," Shamani said.

He described the show as built for ambitious people who are curious and hungry to learn. Shamani said his larger goal is to turn it into a global media institution.

"22 million subscribers is an incredible milestone, but what excites me more is knowing that millions of people across the world share that ambition," he said.