Meghan Markle’s Spotify podcast ‘set to be axed’ as streaming platform ‘revamps output’ with couple ‘set to lose full payout due to low productivity’
- The first episode of Archetypes launched last August as part of a £20m deal
Meghan Markle’s Spotify podcast Archetypes will not be renewed for a second season, as the audio company begins to make changes and revamp its output, it has been reported.
The plans to ditch the Duchess of Sussex‘s show, which explores the ‘labels that try to hold women back’, follows discussions months ago about renewing it for a second series.
Meghan and her husband Prince Harry reportedly signed a $20 million deal with Spotify for the project in late 2020. But insiders close to the audio giant claim that the royal couple did not meet the productivity benchmark required to receive the full payout, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The determined Duchess, however, is still planning to create more podcasts and find a new home for her series, that has previously featured her friend and tennis star Serena Williams, pop sensation Mariah Carey and South African comedian Trevor Noah.
The axing of the show comes after sources close to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex claimed the pair would stop making tell-all Netflix documentaries, publishing memoirs and sitting down for interviews that bash the Royal Family, as they have ‘nothing left to say’.
Meghan Markle’s Spotify podcast Archetypes will not be renewed for a second season it has been reported
Archetypes launched in August last year, exploring the ‘labels that try to hold women back’. The Duke and Duchess reportedly signed the deal for $20 million but will not receive the full payout as it did not reach the productivity benchmark
Meghan signed off her 12th episode in the Archetypes podcast series with a defiant piece of poetry about survival
Spotify were said to carry out conversations for a second series of Archetypes earlier on the year following the end of the first season, but conversations later stalled.
The talent agency that recently signed Meghan, WME, told the WSJ: ‘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.’
The podcast reached the top of Spotify’s charts in the week it premiered.
Spotify, Archwell and WME have been contacted by MailOnline.
It comes as Spotify announced it would be laying off around 200 staff members – around two per cent of their workforce – who work within their podcast teams. It cited difficulties in making podcasts profitable, despite its popularity among listeners.
Meghan signed off her 12th episode in the Archetypes podcast series with a defiant piece of poetry about survival – but made no mention of a potential second series.
Closing the show, which featured men for the first time, she quoted the Greek post-war poet Dinos Chrisianopoulos and said: ‘What didn’t you do to bury me? But you forgot that I was a seed.’
Discussions to publish more content from Archwell, the production company owned by the royal couple, are ongoing, the paper reported.
There are also suggestions that Meghan could soon look to bring her wellness and lifestyle blog the Tig, in a bid to rival Gwynth Paltrow’s Goop website, which is reportedly worth £200 million.
It comes amid reports that the couple will stop making documentaries and tell-all books as they have ‘nothing left to say’
The royal pair have raked in millions since moving to California. Prince Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare was part of a $20 million book deal
Since leaving officially leaving the Royal Family and moving to California in 2020, the Duke and Duchess have pursued a number of different avenues to bring in revenue.
This includes Prince Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare, which he created as part of a $20 million deal with Penguin Books.
The couple also teamed up with Netflix to produce the docuseries called Harry and Meghan, with the streaming giant reportedly paying the pair $100 million for the six-episode series.
