- Share this article on Facebook
- Share this article on Twitter
- Share this article on Flipboard
- Share this article on Email
- Show additional share options
- Share this article on Linkedin
- Share this article on Pinit
- Share this article on Reddit
- Share this article on Tumblr
- Share this article on Whatsapp
- Share this article on Print
- Share this article on Comment
Spotify is set to cancel 10 of its original podcasts from studios Parcast and Gimlet over the next month, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Gimlet’s How To Save A Planet, Crime Show and Every Little Thing and Parcast’s Medical Murders, Female Criminals, Crimes of Passion, Dictator, Mythology, Haunted Places and Urban Legends will wrap up in the next month. Parcast’s Horoscope Today, representing the eleventh show impacted, will also shut down, though that won’t take place until next year during the second quarter.
The cuts are expected to impact under 5 percent of staff working on original podcasts at the audio giant’s in-house studios — which includes Parcast, Gimlet, The Ringer and Spotify Studios — while others working on the canceled shows will be reassigned to different projects.
Related Stories
Spotify currently has a slate of more than 500 original and exclusive shows produced across its four in-house studios. Staff and shows from The Ringer and Spotify Studios are not expected to be impacted.
A spokesperson for Spotify declined to comment.
Thursday’s cuts represent the first time Spotify has canceled a slate of its original podcasts as the audio giant seeks to reallocate resources to existing and new hits, which include the upcoming second season of Batman Unburied, Kim Kardashian’s The System, Meghan Markle’s Archetypes and Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy. Executives at Spotify are beginning to view the company’s slate of original and exclusive programming similarly to how broadcasters and streamers approach renewals and cancelations for TV shows, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Spotify first acquired Parcast and Gimlet in 2019 as part of its $1 billion expansion into podcasting. Staff at both Parcast and Gimlet are unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East. The Gimlet union ratified its first contract in March 2021 and Parcast followed a year later, ratifying its first contract in April of this year.
Last year, the audio giant brought in “close to” €200 million, or roughly $215 million, in podcast revenue but also saw a €103 million, or about about $110 million, negative impact on gross profit, Spotify executives said in June.
This September, Spotify also formally launched its audiobooks business in the U.S. with a library of 300,000 works for purchase, à la carte, though the company is exploring additional business models, which could potentially include an ad-based model in the future.
Oct. 6, 1:15 p.m. PST: Updated with additional information throughout, noting the cancelation of an additional Spotify podcast in early 2023.
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day