Prince Harry and Meghan Markle extend Netflix deal, but with a sting in the tail

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have extended their high-profile production deal with Netflix but there’s a sting in the tail.

The new agreement is a downgrade from the lucrative deal the former working royals inked with the streamer in 2020, reportedly worth $US100 million. According to the New York Times, the extension is worth less.

The previous contract tied the Sussexes to Netflix exclusively with a commitment to produce documentaries, features, scripted projects and children’s series. The new agreement is only a “first-look deal”, which means Netflix gets first pass at any Sussex pitches.

Under the former contract with the Sussexes’ production banner, Archewell, the only proper success was the docuseries Harry & Meghan, a six-parter which detailed the couple’s experiences in the British royal family and their controversial exit and move to North America.

Other projects have included three documentaries – one about the Invictus games, one about the game of polo, and another about leadership. An in-development animated series called Pearl was cancelled before production, swept up in the wave of cost-cutting, including to Netflix’s animation unit, in the fallout over its 2022 subscriber loss.

More recently, Netflix released Markle’s aspirational lifestyle show, With Love, Meghan, in which she invites friends and celebrities to her home (but actually a set) for cooking and entertaining segments.

As part of With Love, Meghan, the former actor and the streamer, became business partners on a line of products associated with the series, including Napa Valley rose, crepe mix, edible flower sprinkles and condiments.

The series had 5.3 million views, which is low compared to the Harry & Meghan docuseries and Netflix’s most successful originals, but is respectable for a lifestyle and cooking title. A second season had already been filmed before the release of the first.

There is also a Christmas special due in December.

In a statement, Markle said, “My husband and I feel inspired by our partners who work closely with us and our Archewell Productions team to create thoughtful content across genres that resonates globally, and celebrates our shared vision.”

A 2020 Spotify deal reportedly worth $US20 million ended in 2023 after a mere 12 episodes of Markle’s Archetypes podcast. The decision was described as mutual.

As much as commentators have looked for tensions or failures in the relationship between the couple and Netflix, the downgraded deal also reflects a change in the streamer’s business model.

When the Sussexes signed the first deal in 2020, Netflix was on a streak of similar agreements, inking big-budget contracts with Shonda Rhimes, Ryan Murphy and the Obamas’ production company, Higher Ground.

Five years on, Murphy went back to Disney, and Higher Ground has also shifted to a first-look deal after six years on more lucrative terms. Higher Ground won an Oscar for Netflix for their documentary American Factory, while narrative film Leave the World Behind, directed by Sam Esmail, is the eighth most watched Netflix original movie of all time.

The company is still in business with Adam Sandler, whose prolific output and movies are hits on the platfor,m while last month Netflix signed an overall agreement with Jaume Collet-Serra, the director and producer behind action thriller Carry-On, which sits second with 172 million views on Netflix’s original movies charts.