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Netflix and Spotify, who together invested $125 million in getting audiences hooked on Harry and Meghan’s story, may now wish they had done an inflammatory interview to promote Harry’s book Spare part of the deal.
Despite the money poured in by the tech giants, Harry chose two traditional ‘legacy media’ broadcasters – ITV and CBS – to reveal the bombshells of his memoirs.
Meanwhile, Netflix bosses weighing whether to extend the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s $100m TV deal are weighing up the cost of the couple’s latest series for “effective leadership”.
Released on December 31. Live to leadfeaturing interviews with climate change activist Greta Thunberg, feminist activist Gloria Steinem and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, is struggling to break into the streamer’s most-watched global lists.
Produced by the couple’s firm Archewell, in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Live to lead it was released three weeks after a six-part documentary Harry and Meghanto capitalize on the success of the couple’s story told in their own words.
Harry and Meghan was hailed by Netflix as its biggest-grossing documentary to date, charting in the top 10 in 85 countries and totaling over 175 million hours of viewing. More than 28 million households watched the opening episodes.
It became clear to Netflix bosses that while the show had rehearsed many of the claims made in the Sparethe biggest revelations, such as the Duke’s claim that his brother had physically assaulted him, were reserved for the book, itself the first product of a $20 million deal with Penguin Random House.
Spare it also went far beyond the descriptions of royal life that Meghan offered her listeners Archetypes podcast on Spotify. The Duchess opened up about her private life and revealed incidents such as the fire that broke out in baby Archie’s nursery.
Spotify bosses grew impatient with the lack of return on the $25m deal with Archewell, with the 12 episodes featuring star-studded guests including Serena Williams finally appearing 18 months after the deal was signed. Megan opted out of the last episode without saying if Archetypes would return.
Harry and Meghan are moving forward with their media careers, hiring an executive from Universal’s film division to lead their PR and another from Sony Pictures to lead their marketing department.
The next project from their Netflix deal is Heart of Invictusa behind-the-scenes documentary about Harry’s 2022 sports tournament for wounded servicemen and women.
Harry was reportedly told the Netflix crew could not record events when the Duke and Duchess returned to Britain for the late Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations last summer.
Netflix, which must rein in programming costs after years of unlimited expansion, has been ruthless about canceling shows. Megan’s first solo project for the streaming platform, an animated series called Pearldropped last May.
The streamer benefited from the extensive coverage of Harry’s book and accompanying TV interviews. A royal saga The crown returned to the top of Netflix’s UK top 10 most watched on Monday, with Harry and Meghan and Suits is also on the list.
However, the public may be tired of Harry’s complaints. Despite huge advance publicity, Tom Bradby’s ITV interview was seen by 4.1 million viewers on Sunday night. BBC One comfortably won the 9pm primetime slot with a gritty drama Happy Valley gets 5.3 million.
“When Harry Met Tom” was watched by far fewer viewers than Oprah Winfrey’s meeting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2021, which drew more than 11 million people.
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