Steve Pond's Blog, page 72

Spotify Surges Past 276 Million Paying Customers, Misses on Second Quarter Sales Estimates

Spotify in the second quarter easily topped Wall Street’s expectations on one metric, by adding eight million paying customers — pushing it to 276 million so-called premium customers overall — but the music and podcast streaming company’s stock price took a big hit in pre-market trading on Tuesday morning after it failed to meet other analyst projections for both sales and earnings.

The Stockholm-based company’s stock price dropped 6% to about $660 per share in pre-market trading on Tuesday, minutes after Spotify reported €4.19 billion, or $4.85 billion, in second quarter revenue — or about $150 million less than what analysts were looking for.

Another part of Spotify’s report that jumped out: the company reported a loss of €0.42 per share, or about $0.49 per share, while analysts had expected €1.97 earnings per share. That translated to a loss of about $100 million for the second quarter.

The quarterly loss comes after Spotify posted a healthy profit in the first quarter of 2025 and was coming off of its first full-year profit in 2024.

CEO Daniel Ek, during Spotify’s earnings call on Tuesday, said the company is investing in parts of its business, like podcasts, that it believes will be long-term winners, rather than “make decisions that achieve specific short-term quarterly outcomes.” He added the company’s progress “is not always linear.”

On the bright side for Spotify, it added three million more premium subscribers than analysts had projected for second quarter. “Spotify Premium” costs $11.99 per month for the individual plan in the U.S., according to Spotify. Other plans include “Premium Duo” at $16.99/month, “Premium Family” at $19.99/month, and “Premium Student” at $5.99/month.

And Spotify also reported healthy growth among its free memberships as well, with the company adding 18 million monthly users during the second quarter. That was up 12% year-over-year and helped Spotify end the quarter with 696 million global users.

“People come to Spotify and they stay on Spotify. By constantly evolving, we create more and more value for the almost 700 million people using our platform,” Ek said in a statement accompanying earnings. “This value not only benefits users but it’s attracting more people to streaming and as a result, it’s also boosted the industries of music, podcasts, and audiobooks.”

Here are some of the key results: 

Revenue: Spotify reported €4.19 billion in second quarter revenue, or $4.85 billion, up 10% from last year. Analysts had projected Spotify would report €4.27 billion in sales, and the company last quarter had estimated it would report €4.30 billion.

Advertising revenue dropped 1% year-over-year to €453 million. The company pointed to “softness in pricing and optimization of our podcasting inventory” as a reason for the slight dip in ad sales.

Subscribers: Spotify added eight million Premium subscribers between April and June, surpassing the 5 million subscribers Wall Street was looking for. The company ended the quarter with 276 million Premium customers, up 12% year-over-year.

Spotify said in its report there was not one market to point to in particular for its strong quarterly growth. The slice of Spotify’s Premium memberships that come from Latin America and the “Rest of World” sector — excluding the U.S., Canada, and Europe, essentially — was 37%, up from 35% a year ago.

Earnings Per Share: The streaming company reported a loss of €0.42 per share, while analysts were looking for €1.97 EPS. The loss stands out, considering Spotify reported €1.07 EPS last quarter and €1.33 EPS during the same quarter a year ago.

An even easier way to look at it: Spotify lost $100 million after reporting a profit of nearly $275 million during the second quarter of 2024.

Spotify, in its report, pointed to “higher costs associated with personnel and related, professional services and marketing.”

Monthly Users: There were 696 million monthly Spotify users at the end of June, up 18 million from the first quarter. The 18 million new users was six times more than the three million monthly users Spotify added in the first quarter; Spotify reported a company-record 35 million monthly users joined the service during the final three months of 2024.

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Spotify, even with a recent dip, had been white hot on Wall Street heading into Tuesday, with its share price increasing 53% since the start of 2025.

Notably, Spotify did not mention artificial intelligence in its report, except for saying the “use of artificial intelligence” could affect its business in the small print of its Forward Looking Statements section.

Later on Tuesday morning, on the company’s earnings call, Spotify Co-President Gustav Söderström said AI is improving playlist curation and recommendation. For example, he said AI makes it easy for users to type “in plain English” what they want to hear in their playlists, like “songs to pump you up”; previously, he said Spotify was “confined to guessing” what users wanted based on what they had listened to in the past.

Spotify also did not talk much about its continued push into podcasts — and in particular, video podcasts — in its second quarter report.

As TheWrap reported in April, Spotify’s internal data found nearly two-thirds of subscribers prefer podcasts with video, which helped spur the company to launch its “Spotify Partners Program” earlier this year, giving creators more tools to create and monetize video podcasts. For podcasters, the big draw is that Spotify will now pay them an undisclosed slice of extra money, based on how many Premium subscribers watch their show.

By the early part of the second quarter, Spotify had 330,000 video podcasts on its platform — more than triple the amount it had two years earlier. That figure grew to 430,000 video podcasts by Tuesday, according to Söderström on the company’s second quarter call.

The post Spotify Surges Past 276 Million Paying Customers, Misses on Second Quarter Sales Estimates appeared first on TheWrap.

‘Pride and Prejudice’: Netflix Unveils First Glimpse of Emma Corrin, Olivia Colman and More as Bennet Family

Netflix has unveiled the first glimpse of the “Pride and Prejudice” limited series with Emma Corrin as Elizabeth Bennet.

The photo, which can be seen above, gives a first look at the women of the Bennet family, including Corrin’s Elizabeth and Olivia Colman’s Mrs. Bennet. The photo also unveils the casting for the rest of the Bennet women, including Freya Mavor (“Industry”) as Jane Bennet, Rhea Norwood (“Heartstopper”) as Lydia Bennet and Hopey Parish and Hollie Avery, who both make their on-screen debut, as Mary Bennet and Kitty Bennet, respectively.

Rufus Sewell (“The Diplomat”) will round out the family as Mr. Bennet, while Louis Partridge (“House of Guinness”) joins as Mr. Wickham, Jamie Demetriou (“Stath Lets Flats”) boards the cast as Mr. Collins and Fiona Shaw (“Killing Eve”) joins as Lady Catherine de Bourg. Daryl McCormack (“Good Luck to You, Leo Grande”) will be Mr. Bingley while Siena Kelly (“Black Mirror”) plays Caroline Bingley.

Additional castings include Anjana Vasan (“We Are Lady Parts”) as Mrs. Gardiner, Sebastian Armesto (“Gangs of London”) as Mr. Gardiner, Rosie Cavaliero (“KAOS”) as Lady Lucas, Saffron Coomber (“Three Little Birds and “Die Zweiflers”) as Mrs. Hurst, James Dryden (“Deadpool”) as Mr. Hurst, Justin Edwards (“The Thick Of It”) as Sir William Lucas, James Northcote (“The Last Kingdom”) as Colonel Forster, Eloise Webb (“The Queen’s Gambit”) as Harriet Forster and Isabella Sermon (“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”) as Georgiana Darcy.

The new cast members join previously announced stars Corrin, Colman and Jack Lowden (“Slow Horses”), who plays Mr. Darcy.

Written by Dolly Alderton (“Everything I Know About Love”) and directed by Euros Lyn (“Heartstopper”), the six-episode limited series is billed as a “faithful, classic adaptation” of Jane Austen’s novel. Alderton, Lyn and Corrin executive produce the show alongside Laura Lankester, Will Johnston and Louise Mutter, who EP for Lookout Point. Lisa Osborne serves as a producer.

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Freedom of the Press Foundation Files Disciplinary Complaint Against Brendan Carr, Alleges Ethics Violations

The Freedom of the Press Foundation has filed a disciplinary complaint letter against Brendan Carr, accusing the Federal Communications Commission chair of violating legal ethics rules in what the nonprofit watchdog describes as a politically motivated campaign to pressure news organizations and benefit President Trump.

In a letter submitted Monday night to the District of Columbia Bar’s disciplinary council and obtained by Oliver Darcy’s newsletter Status, the nonpartisan group alleges Carr abused his authority as a licensed attorney and federal official to intimidate media outlets, misrepresent the law, and enable what it called a “shakedown” of Paramount Global.

The complaint centers on Carr’s role in the FCC’s approval of the $8 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance Media, which followed a controversial $16 million settlement paid by Paramount to Trump over the “60 Minutes” lawsuit. Carr had revived an FCC inquiry into that interview months earlier.

“Carr used the FCC as a tool to pressure Paramount into settling a meritless lawsuit with Trump, paving the way for the merger’s approval,” the complaint reads. “This conduct violates core ethical rules governing honesty, misuse of office, and interference with justice.”

The filing accuses Carr of violating several professional conduct rules, including those prohibiting dishonesty, prejudicial conduct, and abuse of public office for political gain. It cites Carr’s public threats toward MSNBC, revived investigations into ABC and NBC News, and probes into public broadcasting and immigration-related reporting.

Carr has previously vowed to push the president’s agenda as FCC chair. The foundation argues that Carr’s actions have “turned the FCC into a censoring machine” in service of that agenda.

The D.C. bar has not commented on the complaint, and Carr has not publicly responded. If the bar agrees to pursue the matter, it could result in sanctions up to disbarment.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation promotes public-interest journalism with a focus on government transparency and press freedom, works to protect journalists and whistleblowers, provides security training for newsrooms and advocates for legal reforms. Its board has included prominent members such as Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras.

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‘A Responsé From Beyoncé’: Stephen Colbert, ‘Late Show’ Imagine Clap-Back Track to Trump Prosecution Threat | Video

Stephen Colbert took a baseball bat to President Trump’s threat to prosecute Beyoncé on Monday night, imagining the “Formation” singer’s clap-back track that the “Late Show” team titled “A Responsé From Beyoncé.”

Trump made the unsubstantiated claim over the weekend that Beyoncé and others were paid $11 million to endorse Kamala Harris, suggesting that they should be prosecuted. Colbert, who’s years-long distaste for the president came to a head when CBS announced earlier this month that “The Late Show” will terminate next spring, is hardly slowing his roll.

Colbert vowed to pull no punches in his final months, even as CBS parent company Paramount was wrapping its settlement with Trump, raising questions about the timing and ramping up the war of words.

On Monday night, “The Late Show” racked up a video – labeled “FAKE” – of what Beyoncé’s, uh, responsé, might sound like (roughly set to the music of “Irreplaceable,” which Colbert is apparently not, as the show is being shuttered permanently). It focuses, of course, on revelations about Trump’s past associations with Jeffrey Epstein.

Watch the video above, and follow along with the lyrics below:

You and Jeff, you and Jeff

If all of his files are released

You are f’ed

You needed a distraction quick

From all these damning Epstein pics

Don’t come for me like that

I got a big ol’ bat

Don’t you ever for a second

Think we’ll forget

You’re a pedophile’s pal

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Lindsay Lohan’s Toddler Son Thought She Was Trapped in the TV During ‘GMA’ Appearance: ‘Mommy, Come Out!’ | Video

Please never show him “Machete”: Lindsay Lohan’s two-year-old son made the classic toddler misunderstanding when his mom appeared on national television – thinking she was trapped inside the TV screen.

During a Monday appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Lohan shared that the moment had just happened earlier that day.

“Actually, this morning, he was with my in-laws and my husband and I were doing ‘Good Morning America’ and he was like, ‘Mommy, come out! Mommy!'” Lohan recalled with a laugh. “He thought I was stuck in the TV.”

Lohan is married to Bader Shammas, a Dubai-based financier. The couple, who now live in Dubai, began dating in 2020, got engaged in November 2021, and wed in April 2022; they welcomed Luai in July 2023.

“So now that he’s getting older and more aware, I’m kind of scared,” she added. “I don’t want him to get confused.”

Fallon turned to the camera and reassured Luai directly: “Mommy’s fine, Mommy’s safe, Mommy says, ‘Hi!’ We’re good, we’re happy, everything’s great.”

As for which of her films she’d feel comfortable showing her son right now? “Herbie: Fully Loaded,” she said. “Because it’s cars and fun,” she said.

Lohan in the U.S. to promote the sequel “Freakier Friday,” due in theaters Aug. 8. The film marks the first time Lohan has played a mother.

“I’ve never played a mom before onscreen, so it’s special to me,” Lohan told Entertainment Weekly, which debuted the clip you can now watch above. “I played one in ‘Labor Pains’ for a second at the very end, but you didn’t see it.”

As Lohan returns to acting, she said her son plays a central role in choosing projects: “If something works around that, it’s meant to happen. If it doesn’t work around that, it’s a no-go.”

Safe to say Lohan will not be shooting an “I Know Who Killed Me” sequel.

The post Lindsay Lohan’s Toddler Son Thought She Was Trapped in the TV During ‘GMA’ Appearance: ‘Mommy, Come Out!’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Ari Aster Says His Dad Suggested He Stop Writing His Own Movies After ‘Beau Is Afraid’ Flopped

Audiences looking to relive the messy, violent, paranoid emotions of mid-2020 America need look no further than Ari Aster’s “Eddington.” The COVID-era western, currently in theaters, marks Aster’s fourth film with A24 — and his fourth feature overall.

But according to Aster’s dad, he should’ve stopped writing after his third.

With his “Eddington” press run winding down, Aster visited the “WTF with Marc Maron” podcast to speak with the comic and actor about his latest film and career. Around an hour into the podcast, conversation turned to “Beau Is Afraid,” Aster’s divisive third feature.

The film, which uses abrasiveness and discomfort as weapons in a three-hour odyssey of anxiety, performed poorly at the box office and saw mixed results critically. Near the end of the podcast, Maron asked Aster what his mother thought of his work, considering films like “Beau” and “Hereditary” in particular examine dark attachments between mother and child. He said his mother likes his movies, despite their intense themes and imagery. His father, my contrast, suggested that Aster stop writing his own movies after the hyper-personal “Beau Is Afraid” flopped.

“She’s very supportive. I think, you know, certain things she likes more than others … I’m lucky in that sense,” Aster said. “When ‘Beau Is Afraid’ flopped, my dad did tell me, ‘Uh, maybe you shouldn’t write the next one.’ He might’ve been right.”

You can listen to the full podcast below.

Strained relationships with parents, particularly mothers, appear heavily throughout Aster’s filmography. This is especially relevant in “Beau Is Afraid,” a movie centered around Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) and the constant paranoia embedded within him as a result of his mother.

At the start of his career, Aster quickly rose as a cash cow for A24. While his debut feature, “Hereditary,” made nearly $90 million on a budget of $10 million, his follow-up, “Midsommar,” brought in nearly $50 million off of a budget of $9 million.

Box office returns soured on “Beau Is Afraid,” however, after A24 gambled on a three-hour “nightmare comedy” with an estimated price tag of $35 million. The movie made just over a third of that at the box office.

“I was pretty sad that it was, like, so maligned,” Aster told Maron. “There are a lot of people who reached out to tell me that they loved it, and I really, that helped, but yeah, no, it was a bummer because it was a huge, you know, it lost money, and critically, I wouldn’t say it was, like, reviled, but it was definitely, like, there was no consensus whatsoever.”

Reflecting on its success, Aster noted that there are aspects of “Beau Is Afraid” he might have toned down if he could do it over again. He called certain elements of his comedy “exhausting” and “deflating” by design.

“All these things you take away after you release a film and you’re like, OK, it’s out of my hands now, I can’t really avoid people’s reactions, responses,” Aster said. “It’s like, you know, you kind of learn something … No matter what the response, you’re proud of for sticking with [decisions you made], and then certain things where you’re like, ‘Eh, I’m not sure if it was like worth losing that much of the audience for that decision.'”

“It’s a balance,” Maron said.

“Yeah, like, I think I ejected, like, a number of people from the theater,” Aster said. “I could’ve used them.”

Listen to the filmmaker’s full “WTF With Marc Maron” interview in the embed above.

The post Ari Aster Says His Dad Suggested He Stop Writing His Own Movies After ‘Beau Is Afraid’ Flopped appeared first on TheWrap.

Greg Gutfeld Says Network Late Night Is ‘Safe’ and ‘Suffocating’: ‘Beholden to Publicists and Celebrities’ | Video

The self-proclaimed (and, to be fair, ratings-backed since 2022) “King of Late Night” says network TV’s after-hours desk jockeys are failing because they’re beholden to “publicists and celebrities” who are too controversy-averse, while he succeeds by “saying things that they’re thinking.”

“Gutfeld!” host Greg Gutfeld got the last word on the matter Monday night on Fox News’ “The Five,” contrasting his rotating panelist format with what he sees as an ideologically constrained mainstream comedy landscape.

“They are beholden to publicists and celebrities,” Gutfeld said of traditional late-night hosts. “They can’t ask anything that isn’t safe. So if you were to say, ‘Have you been following men in women’s sports?’ whoever you have on — Brad Pitt is going to look at his publicist and go, ‘Get me out of here.'”

Gutfeld credited his own show’s success to offering a space where alternative viewpoints can breathe in a media environment he described as airless and intellectually dishonest.

“People find my show entertaining because I’m saying things that they’re thinking that they thought they couldn’t say,” he said. “Everybody else has made it so suffocating.”

The conversation came amid broader discussion of the reported cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show,” and in particular, Jay Leno’s recent comments that late night comedians’ leaning to one political side created a disconnect between mainstream comedy and the American TV audience.

Gutfeld also took aim at the notion that hosts like Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel were taking bold political stances:

“I take issue with the biggest lie you’re seeing here, which is that Colbert or Kimmel were risk-takers,” he said. “They had long, rewarding, lucrative careers doing exactly what was expected from them. Just so happens the audience found an alternate universe that found they were lying to them.”

Co-host Dana Perino noted that Gutfeld gives his guests the freedom to express themselves without fear of cancellation. Gutfeld quipped in response, “Sometimes I’ll get rid of them.”

Gutfeld’s comments reflect his broader thesis: that his success is as much a reaction to the failures of his competition as it is about any single formula.

“The only reason I think that my show exists is because of the arrogance, the ego, and the assumptions that the liberals have to turn comedy sideways,” he said.

In 2022, Fox News Channel’s “Gutfeld!” overtook the mainstays of late-night network television — including “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” — in average total viewers, the first time a cable late-night show has sustained a total-viewership win across an entire month.

The gap has only grown since, with “Gutfeld!” opening a nearly million-total-viewer lead over his next-closest competitor in live-plus-seven numbers – Colbert – and sustaining a healthy edge in the 25-45-year-old adults demo in Q2 of 2025, according to Nielsen stats.

The post Greg Gutfeld Says Network Late Night Is ‘Safe’ and ‘Suffocating’: ‘Beholden to Publicists and Celebrities’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Seth Meyers Admits He’d Worry for His Mental Health if NBC Cancels ‘Late Night’ | Video

In the aftermath of CBS canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Seth Meyers admitted that he’d worry for his mental health if NBC pulled the plug on his own “Late Night.”

“I would worry about myself, like, mental health-wise,” Meyers said on Monday’s “Armchair Expert” when asked how it would feel to say goodbye to his late night talk show “tomorrow.”

He added that he’s absolutely contemplated what his future would look like if he were to no longer sitting at his desk, saying he could potentially lean harder into stand-up as a way to explore other comedy avenues.

However, the host and comedian said he’s “put a lot of thought” into “diversifying my skill set.”

“Certainly, financially, I could have been fine just doing the show for the last 11 years. But then it was like, ‘Oh, you know what? I feel like there’s something to trying to build a stand-up career and trying to do other things.'”

The airing of Meyers’ revelation came in light of CBS’ decision to cancel Stephen Colbert’s long-running “The Late Show” in the days following the host’s criticisms of Paramount’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump. Meyers’ “Armchair Expert” episode was recorded prior to the news of “The Late Show’s” cancelation.

While CBS maintained that the show was canceled for “financial” reasons, the move led to widespread speculation that Trump pushed the hands of the network’s executives. Most recently, the president’s camp stated that “The View” could be the next show to be “pulled off air,” only charging up theories about Trump’s supposed involvement.

Meyers said that at a certain point, the decision is above him.

“I feel like I shifted from fearing that I wouldn’t be good enough, and now my fear is weirdly more outside of my control, which is … just at some point, the ecosystem might not support [late night],” Meyers said.

“I guess that’s better than thinking it’s your fault, but it is weird to not feel any control over it,” he went on, sharing that he believes “this isn’t the best time” to be in late night. “If there’s a breakthrough over the 11 years of doing the show, [it’s] just show up and do the work. That’s the only part they’re paying you to do. It’s the only part you’re good at. All the other problems, we have people that are as good at that as you are at the thing you do — and don’t mess around with it.”

Meyers explained that this wouldn’t be his first rodeo when it comes to facing challenges with his talk show, noting that some executives weren’t too convinced from the jump that he would last.

“Whatever time we’re living in now, I’ve had lower points in the body of the show,” he said, “Early on in the show, we had some NBC executives actually say to us, ‘We’re very worried about how the show’s going to go.'”

At the end of the day, Meyers said he’s grateful he’s been able to build a legacy that people respect and enjoy.

“I sometimes take stock of, oh, this isn’t the best time to be doing what I’m doing, but at least I got in,” he shared. “I think the body of my work matters enough that the world knows Seth Meyers in a way that I’m happy with … I’ve taken my opportunity to build a thing. I know what it means, and I think other people know what it means. So I’m happy about that.”

Watch the episode below:

The post Seth Meyers Admits He’d Worry for His Mental Health if NBC Cancels ‘Late Night’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

Amazon Sets Medical Drama ‘God Complex’ for Development From Sonay Hoffman and Tommy Benjamin

Amazon plans to step into Hollywood’s medical drama resurgence, setting a new series for development from Sonay Hoffman and Tommy Benjamin.

“God Complex,” produced under the duo’s new company Story Well Pictures, centers on Gabriel, “a revered neurosurgeon who sacrifices himself to a grieving gunman denied care,” per the show’s official logline. “This act of heroism shatters his marriage to a compassionate OB-GYN who can’t forgive his recklessness. Now separated, they must navigate the fallout—professional, personal, and political—while saving lives in a broken system that nearly cost them everything.”

The show also marks Hoffman’s and Benjamin’s first collaboration since “American Crime” on ABC. Hoffman, who preciously served as co-showrunner on the NBC drama series “Found,” will serve as showrunner for “God Complex.” Hoffman is repped by CAA, Pivot Artists Group, and Myman Greenspan Fineman Fox Rosenberg & Light.

Benjamin most recently served as vice president of scripted and documentaries at Get Lifted Film Co., where he began as director of development, scripted television in 2019, and was later promoted to head of scripted television and then VP. During his time at Get Lifted, he won a Children’s and Family Emmy Award for producing the HBO Max documentary “Stand Up and Shot: Songs From a Philly High School.”

Amazon’s foray into the medical genre comes after various streaming platforms and broadcast networks saw success with new projects in the previous TV seasons. Most notably, “The Pitt” on Max grew from an experiment into producing a cheaper streaming offering into an Emmy drama series frontrunner.

On broadcast, new medical dramas on Fox (“Doc), NBC (“Brilliant Minds”) and CBS (“Watson) all secured second season orders. “Doc” is particularly noteworthy in that it secured a rare 22-episode order for Season 2, at a time when many network shows have cut their orders down to 18.

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Marc Maron Reveals the Whopping Price to Use One Minute of a Taylor Swift Song: ‘It Had to Happen’

Marc Maron was completely set on using a specific Taylor Swift song in his HBO Special “Mark Maron: Panicked” — even with the steep $50,000 price tag.

“I know Jack Antonoff enough to text him — and he’s the co-writer on that song,” Maron explained during a July 25 episode of Vulture’s “Good One” podcast. “I said, ‘I don’t know what’s proper or how to do this, but we’re running out of money on this thing. It’s probably going to come out of my pocket. Is there anything you can do about this song or talk to Taylor?’”

Antonoff recommended Maron approach Swift through official music licensing channels, which worked out.

“It was doable,” he added. Unfortunately, that $50k only covered one minute of the song. “I would have gone over the minute, [but] it would have been more money,” he said.

Maron was completely sold on the song in question, “Bigger Than the Whole Sky.”

“It had to happen,” he explained. “The real fear [was], like, [if] she doesn’t let you use it, and then what do you do? You can’t do the bit on the special.”

Maron didn’t divulge what the moment in question is.

Listen to the podcast episode with Marc Maron on YouTube.

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