Meghan Markle’s Spotify boss admits ‘over-investing’ in podcasts, audiobooks

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek admitted to ‘over-investing’ in podcasts and audiobooks months after the release of Meghan Markle’s Archetypes podcast.

According to The Daily Mail, Spotify invested heavily in podcasts and audiobooks in 2022, with an estimated $1billion spent in building its podcast library that now boasts some four million titles; this led to the company laying off some 600 employees this month alone.

However, the profitability of these investments has come under question, with The Daily Mail saying that they have ‘hit gross margins’ after ‘operating expenses grew at twice the speed of Spotify’s revenue.’

Commenting on this, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said: “In hindsight, I probably got a little carried away and over-invested relative to the uncertainty we saw shaping up in the market.”

The statement comes after Spotify reportedly spent some $18 million on a three-year deal with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, under which the Duchess of Sussex’s Archetypes podcast was released.

However, Spotify’s biggest expense came in 2020 when they spent an estimated $200million on US podcast star Joe Rogan for a multi-year deal.