The British media has been running the same old tired hate-campaign plays against the Duchess of Sussex all year. It feels like people are just ignoring it? I hope that’s the case. If anything, this year, it feels easier to just tune out the forced negativity because there’s so much positive stuff coming from Meghan and her team. I still say that the organized review-bombing of With Love, Meghan failed because Meghan was so proactive on social media and mainstream media. The same is true of her As Ever launch and the launch of her new podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder. Plus, I think people have genuinely caught on that haters are going to pour scorn on every little thing Meghan does and says anyway, so it’s easier to just shrug it off as white noise.
So, let’s talk about the COAFF podcast. It’s Meghan’s first pod under her Lemonada contract. COAFF streams on Lemonada, Apple, Amazon Music and Spotify. I theorized last week that Spotify seemed to be suppressing Meghan’s streaming numbers on their charts, and the Daily Mail is currently running a big story about how COAFF “is struggling to reach the success of the Duchess’s previous show Archetypes amid criticism of her interview style.” At long last, they’re admitting that Archetypes was a huge success for Spotify! Weird. Archetypes got to #1 on Spotify’s charts, repeatedly dethroning Joe Rogan. But the Mail & the Daily Beast are obsessed with the Spotify charts:
Meghan Markle’s latest podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder, made a relatively quiet entrance on Spotify’s global stage Sunday. According to rankings published by the streaming giant, the show sits at number 10 on Spotify’s general top podcast chart in the United States—a respectable position, although arguably a little disappointing for such a high-profile launch. The first episode featured Markle in conversation with Whitney Wolfe Herd, the founder of Tinder and Bumble. Critics generally panned it. Markle’s previous podcast, Archetypes, debuted at number one in its launch week back in 2022, although it quickly slipped down the rankings in the weeks that followed as listeners tired of the formula that saw Markle interviewing famous friends.
So… Spotify had to admit that Meghan’s new pod still got into their Top Ten, despite the fact that people were clearly streaming COAFF on other platforms? Because that’s exactly what’s happening – people love COAFF, but they’re just listening to it on Apple:
Meghan Markle’s podcast Confessions of a Female Founder debuted this week, and the numbers are in.
The Duchess of Sussex’s new series from Lemonada Media about women in business premiered on April 8 and ranked high on multiple charts at the end of the week. As of April 11, Confessions of a Female Founder hit second on Apple Podcasts’ Top Show chart and was the number one show in the platform’s business category. PEOPLE understands that Apple Podcasts’ charts are constantly updating.
Confessions of a Female Founder was the number two show on Spotify’s The Podcasts Charts in the business category in the U.S. It is also number 19 on the streamer’s general Top Podcasts chart in the U.S.
Meghan’s new series is also trending in Amazon Music’s Business podcasts list as of April 11.
So… a great debut, especially considering only one episode has been released? When more episodes come out, people will go back and listen to the older episodes, etc. That’s how it works. Personally, I hate the Taylor-Swiftification of Meghan’s numbers. Like, yes, I want her to be successful at everything, but the numbers aren’t the only measure of success. Meghan has put out a polished, interesting podcast which people are listening to and enjoying. The rest is white noise.
Photos courtesy of Netflix, Meghan’s IG and Netflix.
It’s consistently bizarre to me how so many people in media, not just the BM, would say that Archetypes was a dud with a strait-face. While Meghan didn’t continue with it, the numbers were never a flop or terrible and yet that line gets repeated all the time. That it didn’t do well. It did better than just okay. And lemonada seems happy with Meghan’s new debut so suck it, haters.
Maria from Lainey gossip keeps stating that Archetypes was a flop but how could that be if Meg continually dethroned Joe Rogan on the podcast charts? He had the most listened to podcast, prompting Spotify to throw 100 million dollars at him and Meg surpassed his numbers. That’s the opposite of a flop. People just don’t want to give Meghan credit for her successes so they invent failures.
I stopped reading Lainey bc of stuff like that. Just won’t click at all anymore. Too much going on in the world to read shit like that. Before I stopped, I remembered Maria saying that Kylie kelce’s first podcast had dethroned Rogan and was a hit. And I remember thinking well so did Meghan’s and yet you call it a flop. Sooo yeah. Kylie’s podcast is really good and so was Meghan’s, albeit different. That said, I don’t think every subsequent archetypes episode necessarily rated higher than rogan’s but again it still did solid numbers in multiple countries so calling it a flop is disinformation. It just wasn’t one unless you willfully want to see it that way. Was it the biggest most successful podcast of all time ever? No but it also wasn’t a flop.
Maria is a deranger. Her opinions on Meghan are consistently biased and wrong. I no longer read that blog.
Lainey was happy to report on Glen Powell launching a brand selling condiments like ketchup without questioning his “authenticity” and without asking whether he belongs in the “food space”. But she insisted that Meghan’s Tig experience doesn’t count and “With Love Meghan” is not relatable. Since they launched the squawk feature they are after rage comments and cater to Meghan haters while hoping Meghan defenders are triggered enough to subscribe and comment.
She also conveniently ignores that Spotify won several awards as well.
I second, third and fourth skipping over the Lainey blog. So biased.
For years, Lainey was a must-read for me. But the Meghan stuff really made me wonder – if they can be so wrong and biased about Meghan, then why should I bother to read anything else on that site?
I agree with everyone on this thread who has left the LaineyGossip-sphere. They chose loud and wrong a long time ago re: Meghan and they have double/tripled down. I don’t even click to that site anymore. And don’t miss it.
Their communications strategy has for sure shifted back to where it was when they left in 2020-21 and were much more proactive at pushing back. Then that receded to their detriment. Even Harry being outspoken after the court case was good – it put everyone back on their heels a bit. Being passive doesn’t work for these two with the media environment they are in.
Keep going Meg! You are doing just great. The only numbers that count are the numbers of listeners. Haters are going to hate but to no avail.
Finished listening to the 2nd episode. Whew! The realness from Reshma Saujani was refreshing to me. Also coupled with her humanity, this episode knocked it out of the park. The miscarriages, the search for self identify the triumph, defeats. A lot to take in early in the morning. 5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
It’s so weird they keep lying about her numbers. They reluctantly had to admit Spare was a hit, but then it turned into Harry isn’t winning major awards for it. Good lord. They can’t win for nothing.
I hate how much the focus is on her numbers as well. While it does give me a little thrill when things sell out in an hour, or hit the top 10 in 40 countries, it also sets and unfair and unrealistic burden. If everything she does doesn’t break records then it’s a failure or a flop.
Even though by most metrics a business focused podcast doing the numbers that she’s doing, a lifestyle TV show doing the numbers that it did, and a small product launch selling out that quickly would be the things that most business owners dream of, and for her it’s framed as not being enough. The British media will never be fair, but the whole Archetypes wasn’t successful has started to bleed into other reporting as if that’s accurate, when it isn’t.
It’s true that she is held to an unfair and unrealistic standard. Meghan is working her butt off while Kate is tiptoeing through the tulips while enjoying nature, and it’s Kate who gets the accolades.
I only had a Spotify account because of Meghan’s podcast and I deleted it after she left Spotify. I listen to the new podcast on Apple Podcasts but at least the DM is finally admitting that Archetypes was very successful.
I was the same with Spotify.. after their nastiness I will never listen to anything through them again. I use audible or Apple for the few podcasts I follow. I am enjoying Meghans new podcast much more than I thought given that I am not a business person at all. Meghan deserves to be rated so high, it’s a great podcast and I’m loving Tuesdays now.
@Amy Bee……ditto for me!
Spotify is dead to me.
🪦
I, like many others, want archetypes and I like Meghan’s new podcast. She’s doing great – entertaining, informative, and with a lot of joy. It’s inspiring.
But the right wing press will no doubt claim it’s a flop again, as they did with Archetypes. Nothing helps against these lies that people want to believe.
The rest of us and the world know how it really is.🎉❣️☀️🪶
So happy for Meghan, her new podcast is great!
It’s important to note when comparing Archetypes and COAFF that Archetypes had the promotional support of Spotify who in addition to doing ads in Time Square promoted it on all its social media platforms and also ran ads for it that I saw when watching something completely unrelated on the major streaming platform Hulu. Lemonada has a much smaller social media reach and the only real promo for COAFF has been a couple interviews with business websites and Meghan’s own IG. This says a lot about the power of Meghan’s social media presence that this show has been so successful on multiple platforms.
Also: COAFF isn’t just charting on Spotify’s top 10 in the US(it’s up to #8 now). It’s #5 in Canada and #10 in the UK as well (in addition to being #14 in Australia and #17 in NZ).
It is also normal when a podcast is exclusive to one platform, it does enormous numbers, because all the view numbers are concentrated on one platform. I am listening to this podcast through Youtube Music now. I couldn’t do that with Archetypes, I had to download Spotify.
I don’t use spotify because of their love of platforming ignorant AHs and I don’t subscribe to podcasts but now I’m tempted to listen to this on spotify
I’m not even surprised her podcast is doing so well. 1. Name recognition 2. Its a very interesting podcast. When its over I find myself withing these episodes were at least 1.5hrs. The conversations are so relevant to whats happening now for example women losing their rights while also having universal themes like balancing family and work.
10/10
I’m listening to it on Apple. This 2nd episode is really good and well worth a listen or two. So unless Meghan is number 1 week after week or the top 5, she’s considered a flop? Is that the standard now? Not having good numbers across several platforms, a dedicated fan base, positive reviews (from listeners because the press can’t ever be objective) and interesting guests. Ok then. How many podcasts are out there? To even break through like this is amazing. I’m really liking what she’s putting out so far.