Netflix bosses don’t consider Meghan Markle’s new show a ‘runaway success’ as TV viewing figures revealed that subscribers much prefer her on screen when it is with her husband Prince Harry, MailOnline can reveal today.
With Love, Meghan brought in barely a quarter of the viewers hooked by the documentary series Harry & Meghan in 2022.
It came as Netflix’s own data showed that With Love, Meghan has been more successful in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia than in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
‘It’s not a runaway success’, MailOnline’s insider at Netflix has admitted.
The Duchess of Sussex‘s eight-part series was watched by 526,000 households in the first five days it was available on Netflix since its release on March 4, according to data gathered by Samba TV.
But by comparison Harry & Meghan drew in 2.1 million households in approximately the same number of days – making it four times more successful.
With Love, Meghan was watched by more people aged between 45 to 54 than any other age group.
In the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, Meghan’s TV show is number 7 in the Netflix chart, according to the streaming giant’s latest figures.
Netflix’s bosses are said to be worried by the poor reviews of her series
Harry & Meghan was much more popular in terms of viewing figures compared to With Love, Meghan
Where did With Love, Meghan rank in your country?
But in the US, the UK and Canada, the show was at number 10 yesterday.
In most other countries it had dropped out of the top ten completely, if it had been there at all.
On Friday, the Duchess showed herself celebrating, with her arms in the air in her garden, as she said the show had been renewed for a second season. She admitted to having made ‘mistakes’ but insisted that she is ‘learning every day’, after her hotly-anticipated Netflix show was widely panned.
But one Netflix insider with links to the commercial arm of the streaming giant told MailOnline that the reviews have ‘worried’ the bosses. Meghan’s own father Thomas also gave a withering review yesterday and is upset by her dumping of the Markle surname for Sussex.
And a new season does not mean her Netflix contract has been renewed, MailOnline’s source says.
‘I know they filmed the shows back-to-back so in theory there is no second season it’s like with lots of Netflix shows it is already in the bag at the same time as the first one.
‘What this does is allow edits to be made to the show from feedback from press and Netflix viewers. It’s clever and cost effective. So no the overall contract hasn’t been renewed yet.’
Meghan’s excited announcement of Season 2 of her series With Love, Meghan, on Netflix
Two Netflix stores (pictured in Hollywood) will be the destination for the launch of Meghan Markle’s American Riviera Orchard brand, now known as As Ever
The source added that bosses were ‘worried’ about the poor reviews – especially as they are a business partner in her lifestyle brand, which will launch in their bricks and mortar stores in the coming months.
‘The industry bibles like The Hollywood Reporter and Variety are not keen on it’, they said.
‘Netflix bosses are all worried now because they have invested a lot in the product line. They don’t know when and how to roll it all out’.
MailOnline asked Netflix to comment.
Netflix has said it will set aside space in two of their brand-new stores.
The first of the As Ever stands will open in two of America’s biggest retail centres, the King of Prussia Mall in Philadelphia and the giant Dallas Galleria.
But while details of products such as jam and pancake mix have emerged, the full range and price points have not.
One Netflix source told The Sun that they were happy with the level of coverage and interest in the show. However, the delayed lifestyle series was slammed by critics as a ‘gormless lifestyle filler’ with a ‘tangible desperation’, and normally supportive publications also turned on Meghan and her show.
With Love, Meghan has a lowly 11 per cent rating from viewers, falling behind wrestling and sitcoms, and is now outside the Netflix Top Ten in all major nations.
Variety panned the Duchess of Sussex’s series as ‘a Montecito ego trip not worth taking’ in a no holds barred review.
‘The show plays out like a forced march, one in which Meghan’s guests must, as the price of getting to share an afternoon in a made-for-TV kitchen with her, praise her first,’ they wrote.
‘With Love, Meghan is made with a great deal of love – in the sense that the greatest love of all is the one that a person has for herself.’
With Love, Meghan has a lowly 11 per cent rating from viewers with it behind wrestling and sitcoms on Netflix ‘s chart
Meghan with Prince Harry who makes a fleeting appearance in his wife’s lifestyle series
The series has a lowly 11 per cent rating from more than 250 ratings from viewers on reviews site Rotten Tomatoes
The series has a lowly 11 per cent rating from more than 250 reviews on entertainment website Rotten Tomatoes.
A scathing one star reviewer quipped: ‘This isn’t even a fun hate watch. It’s just bad.’
A fellow low scorer said watching With Love was the ‘worst few minutes of my life’.
Previously sympathetic Left-leaning publications such as The Guardian have warned this could be the last show Meghan and her husband Prince Harry ever make for Netflix if it is not a ratings success – describing it as ‘pointless’.
Marina Hyde in The Guardian wrote: ‘The mildest way to describe this show is as a ghastly artefact of a particular cultural era that recently met its apocalypse. This show is sensationally absurd and trite, and if you watch it, you know it.’
