Get ready for a wild ride, everyone, because the saga surrounding Meghan Markle‘s podcast venture with Lemonada Media just keeps unraveling.
Unfortunately for Lemonada, this adventure has come at a hefty price—16 million pounds to be exact—thanks to Meghan’s Archetypes podcast, which failed to make even a dent in the top 200 rankings.
Imagine throwing a party and forgetting to send out invitations; that’s essentially what happened here.
Let’s rewind and set the scene.
Lemonada Media, in a bold move, thought they struck gold by partnering with the Duchess of Sussex.
Their plan?
To broaden the reach of Archetypes and bring it to a wider audience.
Sounds great, right?
But here’s the catch: you don’t even need a Spotify account to listen to it, raising the question of why anyone would choose Lemonada in the first place.
According to reports from the Express, this venture could lead to significant financial losses for Lemonada, especially when pitted against Spotify’s massive revenue machine.
Flashback to when Harry and Meghan decided to chart their own course away from royal obligations, signing lucrative deals left and right.
Spotify, with high hopes and deep pockets, handed them an impressive 18 million pounds to create their own podcast series.
However, Archetypes flopped harder than a fish out of water after just one season.
Despite featuring big names like Serena Williams and Mariah Carey, Meghan’s audio escapade turned out to be about as riveting as watching paint dry.
Fast forward to this year, and in a twist nobody saw coming, Meghan announced her new collaboration with Lemonada Media, promising fresh content that, let’s be real, isn’t exactly generating a buzz.
While the Spotify deal felt like striking gold, this latest partnership seems more like a consolation prize.
Branding expert Andrew Block speculated that Meghan’s new deal might be worth only 10% of what they received from Spotify—dropping from 18 million pounds to a mere 1.9 million.
That’s quite the downgrade.
But wait, the plot thickens—or perhaps, thins out.
If you’re an Apple Podcasts enthusiast, good luck trying to locate Archetypes.
It’s like playing a game of hide and seek, except no one seems to be looking for it.
The situation isn’t much better on platforms like Amazon Music and Audible, where finding Meghan’s podcast is akin to searching for a needle in a haystack.
Even with enthusiastic five-star reviews from her loyal fans, Archetypes barely managed to scrape together a three-star rating out of ten.
Ouch!
The reality check?
Meghan may envision herself as the next Oprah of the podcasting world, but the public sentiment tells a different story.
It appears she’s more interested in hearing her own voice than allowing her guests to shine.
As for the podcast’s success?
It’s hard to argue that it achieved anything beyond highlighting a glaring miscalculation of Meghan’s appeal as a podcaster.
To add insult to injury, a spokesperson for the Sussexes boldly claimed that Archetypes was the number one podcast on Spotify.
Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.
Joe Rogan still reigns supreme at the top of the charts, enjoying a level of fame that Meghan’s fleeting podcast aspirations never reached.
Spotify’s grand strategy to bolster Meghan’s podcast with a New York advertising blitz seemed more focused on salvaging their reputation than celebrating any real success.
In retrospect, the Meghan and Harry podcast debacle serves as a masterclass in how not to launch an audio career.
With each misstep and financial setback, they are crafting their own guidebook on media blunders.
So here’s to Archetypes.
May it find its resting place among the forgotten podcasts of the digital age.
And to Lemonada Media, we extend our deepest sympathies as they navigate this rocky terrain.
