'Nail in the coffin' for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's $100m Netflix deal was poor sales of her As Ever wine

Daily Mail​

4 days ago

Another 'nail in the coffin' for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's $100million Netflix deal was that her Napa Valley wine 'isn't selling', an insider at the streaming giant has claimed.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have also fallen out of favour with A-listers, especially the former Suits star, MailOnline's source has said.
'No one in Hollywood rates them anymore or wants to be around them, especially her', the insider said, adding: 'People are bored with them'.
Netflix, who have been her As Ever brand's business partner, is believed to have declined to renew the couple's $100million five-year deal in September after their two most recent shows flopped.
The Duchess of Sussex has 'had everything going for her ' but the viewing figures for With Love, Meghan have still been 'dismal' and there will be no more shows made, one insider has said.
Meghan's lifestyle show failed to break into Netflix 's top 300 programmes for the first half of 2025 and was even thrashed by multiple seasons of Suits. While Harry's passion project documentary Polo ranked at a disastrous 3,436 out of 7,000 shows and was only watched by 500,000 people.
Netflix has been working with Meghan to launch and promote her products, some of which have been made by their preferred suppliers, including her jam.
MailOnline's insider at the streaming giant has said that Meghan's rosé, which promises to 'capture the essence of sun-drenched outdoor moments', has not been a huge success and this was another 'nail in the coffin' for the $100million broadcast deal. 'The wine isn't selling', they said.
Meghan has most recently launched a range of wines but a Netflix insider has claimed the sales have been poor
Commenting on As Ever's claims the wine sold out in an hour, the source added: 'It's small batch' - meaning it was only ever produced in a small quantity.
Netflix believes the launch has shown that 'there isn't a demand for her wine from a mass market point of view' and this means a bigger and more lucrative supermarket or department store deal is 'unlikely', the source claimed.
Customers had to purchase a minimum of three bottles for $90 or six bottles for $159, and 12 bottles for $300. This mean there was a minimum spend of $119, as buyers were also charged $20 for shipping, plus taxes.
2025 has been billed as the year the Sussexes would relaunch. As well as Meghan's new TV show and lifestyle business, the couple have been out and about at concerts including multiple Beyonce shows.
There was also a flurry of activity on Meghan's Instagram account, including a number of personal family video such as twerking when about to give birth.
'Meghan hasn't posted on her own socials for nearly a month', MailOnline Netflix insider said.
'The issue is that there's no consistency and people are bored with them. Many stars go silent and in the background are building their brand and equity but it feels like Harry and Meghan are losing their way even more.
'The Netflix deal not being renewed will have a big impact on them as they are running out of options of who will work with them and reap in the future.
'As Ever has a good fan base and a strong database of subscribers to its newsletter but consistency is key and it's not delivering on this so people will quickly be bored and the novelty is wearing off now for most'.
MailOnline has asked Netflix and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to comment.
'There's no animosity from either side', one source told The Sun.
'Things have just run their course.
'Netflix execs are well aware Meghan's priority now is her own brand, and they won't play second fiddle to that'.
She also posted a video of her and Prince Harry dancing in a hospital room ahead of Lilibet's birth as part of a flurry of Instagram activity
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's hopes of a new Netflix deal are 'dead', a source was quoted as saying earlier this week.
The Duchess of Sussex has 'had everything going for her ' but the viewing figures for With Love, Meghan have still been 'dismal', an insider at the streamer reportedly said.
A second season of With Love, Meghan, was announced by the Duchess herself as the first season came out in March this year as part of the couple's $100million deal with the streaming giant, which expires this year.
But a Netflix source has claimed: 'This deal is dead.
'She had everything going for her—name, platform, press—and the numbers were dismal.
'They're just waiting for the credits to roll. They're letting it expire without drama. There's no appetite for anything new.'
Former executive editor of the American edition of Ok! magazine, Rob Shuter, has claimed that the streaming giant will not offer them a new contract once it concludes.
'The interest just isn't there anymore. They went from buzzy to background noise', a Netflix source told Mr Shuter.
Some experts have even claimed that Netflix will want 'to keep a vague hand in' with them in case Meghan and Harry ever split up, so they can get in first with a docu-series on a divorce.
There are rumours that they could leave the door open for one-off projects with the Sussexes, although apart from their fly-on-the-wall documentary, Harry & Meghan, most of their shows have been considered flops.
MailOnline has asked Netflix to comment.
As Ever, which showed Meghan cooking, gardening and hosting friends, was outperformed by hundreds of shows in the first six months of this year.
Millions more people watched repeats of Suits, which made Meghan Markle a star before she met Prince Harry.
Its 5.3million viewers put it roughly on a par with the second series of BBC hit Peaky Blinders, a 2007 series of Gossip Girl, kids show Grizzly and the Lemmings and a true crime show called Worst Ex Ever.
Yesterday MailOnline revealed how two of North America's leading brand experts have claimed Meghan Markle is a 'fraud' and As Ever is all about 'milking' her fame from marrying Prince Harry to 'sucker people into buying her stuff'.
Canadian lawyer Phillip Millar and California marketing executive Camille Moore, stars of popular The Art of the Brand podcast, believe the launch and concept of her lifestyle business has been one of the worst they have ever seen.
'I love sh***ing on people who suck. Meghan Markle sucks as far as I'm concerned', Mr Millar has said.
'It [As Ever] is run by a confederacy of dunces working on this platform that is just maximising the value from her fame that came from Suits and being a part of the Royal Family and they're just milking that for everything they can'.
Millar and Moore, who have advised big businesses including Mercedes-Benz, L'Oreal, Olaplex, Dior, Van Cleef and Air Canada, say Meghan's business has been a 'royal disaster'.
Mr Millar believes that As Ever lacks authenticity because he claims that Meghan is 'pretending' to be a domestic goddess and most people don't believe it. But he added that the people who have rushed to buy her wine, jam, crepe mix and tea shows 'how gullible a lot of consumers are'.
Canadian lawyer Phillip Millar and California marketing executive Camille Moore, stars of popular The Art of the Brand podcast, believe the launch and concept of her lifestyle business has been one of the worst they have ever seen
He said: 'She's not substantial. I'm agitated by her so much because it is a deliberate misrepresentation of what she is because she thinks she can pretend to be that while actually being this and sucker people into buying her stuff and every step of the way she's failing because it's not legitimate. It's not intelligent. It's not well executed.
'There was nothing about her brand that was good from the start to a distinguishing eye. She was a fraud what I can see from the beginning who was just using opportunities to advance herself. Her brand wasn't one built on substance. It was based on using people.
'They're not executing anything well on any show on anything. But it shows how gullible a lot of consumers are'.
Mr Millar said that investors including Netflix appear to have failed to ask serious questions of Meghan before the launch.
'People who consider themselves smart because nobody ever questions them are running this business and telling her to use a playbook that works for products where scarcity matters. Confectionery scarcity doesn't matter.
He added: 'There's an egocentric approach to it that if you achieve some level of celebrity, you think you can build a brand, but that's the start of your brand. You can make short-term money from it, but it's not a long-term strategy'.
Phillip believes Meghan has failed to see what she really is - a 'disruptor' rather than a homemaker.
He said: 'Her brand should be I'm a disruptor. I go into TV. I make noise. I go into the Royal Family. I make noise. She should brand herself as a rebel, but she's not consistent with what she is.
'She should be a disruptor and sell products that are not that expensive and that represent disruption, but that audience is not spending a lot of money'.
Ms Moore said Meghan is responsible 'for really probably having the worst brand execution to date', adding: 'She's had zero ownership in this business. It's effectively like she's just like labeling her brand'.
She added: 'I feel like she's doing such a brutal or good job, depending on how you're looking at it, of getting this like free PR and then absolutely s***ing the bed'.