Trevor Noah Signs With Spotify for Weekly Podcast Series (EXCLUSIVE)

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Bradley Cooper wants to bring a new slate of “real people telling real stories” to your earbuds. The actor and filmmaker’s Lea Pictures production company signed a multiyear audio deal with iHeartPodcasts, the podcast division of iHeartMedia. The collaboration will encompass several co-produced shows including “The Good Stuff Podcast,” which debuted earlier this month and marks Lea Pictures’ first audio project. Cooper will serve as executive producer for the entire slate, which will be distributed by iHeartPodcasts on the iHeartRadio app and other audio platforms. “Sharing stories that inspire, motivate and resonate is one of the reasons I started Lea Pictures, and I’m excited to team up with iHeartPodcasts to bring them to life for millions of listeners,” Cooper said in a statement provided to Variety. “Our shows will feature real people telling real stories, and we knew iHeart was the perfect partner to reach as many people as possible. I look forward to dreaming up more extraordinary stories together.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Kevin Hart and his entertainment company Hartbeat are bringing back BET’s “Comic View” stand-up comedy franchise after a nine-year hiatus as part of a four-day weekend event in Las Vegas celebrating his 44th birthday. The actor, comedian, producer and entrepreneur’s Hartbeat is teaming with Paramount Global’s BET to relaunch “Comic View” for Hartbeat Weekend, taking place in Las Vegas from July 6-9 and timed for Hart’s birthday (July 6). Hosted by Mike Epps, the all-new episodes of “Comic View” will be recorded on location in front of a live audience throughout the four-day event with performances by Tommy Davidson, Tacarra Williams, Tony T. Roberts, Bresha Webb, D.C. Young Fly and rapper Tip “T.I.” Harris (in what will mark his televised stand-up comedy debut).

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Internet pay-TV provider Fubo named Dan Sormaz, a 10-year Spotify veteran, to lead its product design operations as senior VP. Sormaz joins Fubo this week, based out of the company’s New York headquarters, reporting to chief product officer Mike Berkley (who is also a Spotify alum). Sormaz brings to Fubo 20 years of experience as a user-experience design exec at companies including Spotify, Sorare, Boxee (acquired by Samsung), News Corp and AOL. At Fubo, he’s tasked with leading the design organization, which is responsible for how customers interact with and experience its live TV streaming products.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music At a time when more than 120,000 songs are being uploaded to streaming services every day and artists are continually seeking ways to stand out, Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast, exclusively available on Spotify, has brought a big boost in streams — at least on Spotify, which happens to be the world’s biggest paid streaming service. According to data provided by Spotify, in the 48 hours following their guest appearances on the show, Anitta’s streams rose 155%, Madison Beer’s climbed 130% — and even long-established artists like John Legend and John Mayer saw boosts of 200% and 350%, respectively. The show was the most popular podcast globally on Spotify Wrapped for 2022 — behind the ever-popular Joe Rogan, of course.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor A new byline showed up Wednesday on the site of io9, the genre-entertainment section of Gizmodo tech website: “Gizmodo Bot.” And the site’s editorial staff appears to have not had any input or advance notice of the new AI-generated story about Star Wars movies and TV shows, which is said to have been the work of parent company G/O Media. The AI-generated story was headlined “A Chronological List of Star Wars Movies & TV Shows.” Among other issues, the article presents the titles in a numbered list that is not actually in chronological order. It also omits any mention of Disney+ series “Andor” and “The Book of Boba Fett” and lists the “Clone Wars” series as coming after the events of “The Rise of Skywalker,” which is incorrect.

Florence Pugh has made headlines several times for her sheer Valentino dresses and she just wore another one!

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Spotify hasn’t let new Premium subscribers pay for service using in-app purchases via Apple’s App Store since May 2016 — objecting to the tech giant’s “tax” on purchases made through the App Store. There was only about a two-year window (from June 2014 to May 2016) during which Spotify Premium subs could opt to sign up and pay through the Apple App Store. Now, Spotify is no longer letting those customers continue paying through Apple’s in-app purchases. In recent emails to those subscribers, Spotify said, “We’re contacting you because when you joined Spotify Premium you used Apple’s billing service to subscribe. Unfortunately, we no longer accept that billing method as a form of payment.”

Cardi B, Lee Pace and Diane Keaton show off their unique sense of style while attending the Thom Browne show during Paris Fashion Week on Monday (July 3) in Paris, France.

Naman Ramachandran Seasoned media executive Gideon Khobane has joined Amazon as the director for Prime Video Africa. Khobane joins with a remit to support the growth of the Prime Video service across sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa and Nigeria. Working closely with the Africa Originals team, headed up by Ned Mitchell, the content acquisitions team, led by Ayanna Lonian and product teams responsible for launching customer features, Khobane is tasked with helping to provide a mix of original and exclusive TV series and movies for existing Prime Video members and to attract new customers in sub-Saharan Africa. The executive, whose experience over his 18-year career ranges from pay-TV to free-to-air broadcasters across sub-Saharan Africa, most recently served as a group executive responsible for general entertainment for the Multichoice Group, and previous to that, served as CEO of SuperSport International and channel director at M-Net. Khobane will continue to be based in South Africa.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor YouTube removed a video comedy podcast in which Roseanne Barr — attempting to make a sarcastic point about internet platforms enforcing disinformation policies — made extremely offensive comments about the Holocaust. YouTube determined that the video violated its policies prohibiting hate speech. On the June 14 episode of comedian Theo Von’s “This Weekend” show, Barr discussed how online platforms like YouTube have “de-platformed” people who spread lies. As an example, Barr said, “the real truth” was that President Biden won the 2020 election and said she was glad such policies were in place to remove content posted by election deniers. (Actually, YouTube earlier this month reversed its policy prohibiting misinformation about the 2020 election.)

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Canva, the software company that hosts an “all-in-one visual communication platform,” announced partnerships with Warner Music Group and Merlin to let Canva customers use music clips in their designs. With the deals, Canva will become the first visual design platform to add commercially released music clips at the point of creation for content that can be shared across multiple platforms. Starting this fall, the libraries of Warner Music Group (including Warner Recorded Music and Warner Chappell Music) and Merlin will be available for Canva Pro, Canva for Education and Canva for Nonprofit customers to add music clips to their designs, with small teams using Canva for Teams to follow.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Later this summer, Stitcher — one of the biggest podcast-listening apps — will be going silent after about 15 years. The Stitcher apps and web-streaming audio service will be shutting down on Aug. 29, 2023, according to a notice posted to its site Tuesday. In the “Stitcher Farewell” notice, the service explains it this way: “SiriusXM, the owner of Stitcher, is focused on incorporating podcasts into its flagship SiriusXM subscription business. Subscribers can listen to podcasts within the SiriusXM app and will see an all-new listening experience later this year.” The Stitcher name isn’t totally disappearing, though: The company said it “expect[s] to continue to operate our Stitcher Studios and Earwolf networks” that produce original podcast shows.

Trevor Noah has his sights set on the world of podcasting.

Trevor Noah‘s next gig has been revealed.

Trevor Noah is moving into podcasting.

struck a podcasting deal with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in late 2020, the streaming giant’s unabashed pursuit of celebrity appeared to have reached its apogee. “They are embracing the extraordinary capacity of podcasts on Spotify,” one executive said of the royal pair in an effusive press release. Two-and-a-half years later, however, Spotify has been dragged rapidly back to reality.

Bill Simmons, who sold The Ringer to Spotify in 2020 and has risen through the tech company’s executive ranks, derided Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on his podcast Friday as “f–king grifters.”

Spotify's decision to cut their losses and scrap their deal with Meghan and Harry could cost the couple $10million and does not bode well for their fading hope of becoming a $1billion brand, experts told MailOnline today. Meghan Markle's podcast Archetypes will not be renewed for a second season in what has been described as a mutual decision between the Sussexes and the streaming behemoth. PR guru Mark Borkowski told MailOnline that it is very bad news for Meghan and Harry’s brand and a sign ‘their star is really falling’.

Meghan Markle has issued a blunt response after Spotify cancelled her podcast. The audio producer announced that the "Archetypes" podcast would not be renewed for a second series. Following the cancellation, a spokeswoman for the Archewell productive media company said: "The team behind Archetypes remain proud of the podcast they created at Spotify.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Ryan Reynolds is known for R-rated humor — but now he’s going into dad mode with his first original series for internet TV provider Fubo. Reynolds’ Maximum Effort production company announced the June 20 launch of Maximum Effort Channel on Fubo, which will feature the debut of the partnership’s first original show: “Bedtime Stories With Ryan.” According to the description of the 15-episode series, Reynolds “reads new and classic bedtime stories in an attempt to soothe your mind and soul (and also his own).” “We’re so happy to create a program with the express goal of putting people to sleep,” Reynolds said in a statement. “This show has actually been a dream of mine for a while. Story time is a nighttime staple in our home and is a daily reminder of the power of storytelling.”