Meghan Markle’s ‘Archetypes’ Podcast Not Renewed at Spotify
Spotify has not renewed Archetypes, the platform-exclusive podcast from Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Archewell Audio, for a second season, according to people familiar with the matter.
The podcast, hosted by the Duchess of Sussex, released last August and featured guests like Serena Williams, Mariah Carey, Mindy Kaling, Constance Wu, Paris Hilton, Issa Rae and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez across its 12-episode first season. The series also had the highest first-week streams at launch for a podcast in the U.S., according to last year’s Spotify Wrapped list.
Archetypes was released as part of Archewell’s multiyear exclusive deal with Spotify, which was first announced in late 2020. In the years since then, the partnership has resulted in just the one season of Archetypes and a holiday special released in December 2020, around the time of the deal announcement.
As a result of the low output compared to other exclusive Spotify deals, which typically require multiple series or multiple episodes of a show released on a regular basis, the pact between the two companies is expected to come to an end, a person with knowledge of the matter told The Hollywood Reporter.
“The team behind Archetypes remain proud of the podcast they created at Spotify. Meghan is continuing to develop more content for the Archetypes audience on another platform,” a representative for WME, which represents Markle and Archewell, told The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.
Spotify declined to comment. A spokesperson for Archewell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The end of a Spotify-Archewell relationship would serve as the latest high-profile talent departure from Spotify, which ushered in a short-lived era of high spending for podcast deals beginning in 2019 as the company sought to expand its podcasting business. But as the market has slowed and Spotify has faced pressure to turn a profit on its audio business, the company has pulled back on its audio spending and has become more judicious with its expensive talent deals over the past year.
Other creators and studios whose deals have lapsed or have otherwise exited to other companies include Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground, Brené Brown and Esther Perel. Jemele Hill’s exclusive deal with Spotify is also expected to end later this summer.
Earlier this month, Spotify cut around 200 jobs in its podcast division and merged its in-house studios Gimlet and Parcast into a single brand, Spotify Studios.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
