Spotify took a US$34mln hit from the cancellation of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s podcast series, the streaming service revealed today.
Harry and Meghan, the former royal couple, agreed with Spotify to cancel the US$20mln contract last month after failing to meet the productivity after only twelve episodes were produced.
Spotify’s head of podcast innovation later said in a podcast that the series should have been called “The Grifters”, a reference seemingly to the Sussex’s output during the life of the contract.
Daniel Ek, Spotify’s chief executive, it was “stepping out of some deals and relationships that haven’t worked out” admitting that in some instances “we overpaid relative to what we should have done”.
Spotify has been scaling back its podcast arm, including cutting 200 jobs, after a major expansion failed to deliver the results it expected.
Today it said though revenue for its latest quarter rose 11% year-over-year to €3.18 bn net losses more than doubled to €302 million, or €1.55 per share.
Yesterday, the group announced it was raising prices on its subscription for the first time in more than a decade.