When actress and parttime royal Meghan Markle and her husband, Prince Harry, left Spotify last June, they said their production company Archewell remained committed to podcasting. That has come to fruition as Lemonada Media has announced it has inked a new partnership with Markle to create a new chat show for the company.
“I’m proud to now be able to share that I am joining the brilliant team at Lemonada to continue my love of podcasting,” Meghan said in the announcement. "Being able to support a female founded company with a roster of thought provoking and highly entertaining podcasts is a fantastic way to kick off 2024.”
Under the deal with Lemonada, the earlier episodes of Archetypes, which had been exclusive to Spotify, will be rereleased and widely distributed across all podcast apps.
“Our plan to re-release Archetypes so that more people can now have access to it, as well as launching a dynamic new podcast are well in the works,” Markle added.
The still-untitled new series will debut in the spring. Like Archetypes, the new show will feature Markle in conversation with notable women, friends, comedians, activists, historians, and experts for what Lemonada says will be a “cultural conversation” about how women can reject, reclaim, and redefine these archetypes, on their own terms.
“As we’ve started development with The Duchess of Sussex, we are blown away by her collaborative spirit and clear vision, along with her deep desire to build compassion and community through this work,” says Lemonada Chief Creative Officer Stephanie Wittels Wachs. “The Lemonada team felt immediate kinship with Meghan and the Archewell Productions team, and we are delighted to be working together,” she said in a statement.
Spotify and Archewell Audio parted company last June following the release of a single, 12-episode season of Archetypes. While its content output was small, what it did release seemed to be a hit with listeners.
Since Archetypes was released in 2022, it has had more than 10 million downloads, averaging nearly a million listens per episode after it debuted as Spotify’s No.1 podcast in 47 countries around the world two years ago with interviews of celebrities such as Mariah Carey, actress Mindy Kaling, and tennis great Serena Williams.
“We are beyond honored that Meghan has trusted us to help democratize access to Archetypes, and that so many more people around the world will have access to the series soon,” Lemonada CEO Jessica Cordova Kramer said. “Meghan’s talent as host, creator and conversationalist is unparalleled and we are thrilled to co-create a new series with her that fosters her approach to creating art that matters.”
Terms of Lemonada’s deal with Markle were not released. Spotify earlier paid a reported $25 million to Markle and Prince Harry, but the podcast marketplace has changed and such lucrative deals are much harder to come by. Lemonada is also a much smaller company. While it has typically worked with less-known talent to create podcasts under its “make life suck less” banner, it has also veered into celebrity shows. For example, Lemonada is home to the Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus podcast.
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