The underwhelming response to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s latest business venture has the potential to jeopardize their $100 million deal with Netflix, according to a top brand expert.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s “Polo” docuseries, released on the streaming platform earlier this week, has been hit with a slew of negative reviews from critics in the days that followed.
The duo, who both served as executive producers on the project, made minimal appearances in the docuseries, with the promotion of the project also underdelivering.
Brand expert Nick Ede has now warned that the documentary could be the “nail in the coffin” for the pair’s lucrative Netflix partnership, which they signed in 2020.
“The new polo documentary hasn’t received good reviews, and this is another foray into producing from Meghan and Harry,” Ede told the Daily Mail.
“All eyes will be on whether the show rates and makes the very important top ten. It could, like the Invictus documentary, start well due to the public’s fascination with the pair and with polo potentially.”
Ede warned that the project was always going to “fair badly” as it went up against Netflix’s latest releases like “Black Doves” and a variety of new Christmas films.
“This could potentially be a nail in the coffin for their deal with the streaming giant who now use algorithms to make sure their programming is perfect for their subscribers,” he added.
The Post has reached out to Netflix and reps for the Sussexes for comment.
It comes after the “Suits” alum, 43, finished filming her upcoming show for Netflix in July.
While details about her new project remain scarce, the series will reportedly be centered around cooking and wellness.
It will be produced by Sony Pictures Television, as well as Markle herself, and will likely collaborate with her impending lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, which has yet to be launched.
Both the polo docuseries and the upcoming cooking show fall under the deal Harry and Markle signed with Netflix under their Archewell Productions company.
In February, Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria revealed the types of projects the duo are working on under their lucrative deal with the platform.
“They have a couple of unscripted things they’re working on with Brandon [Riegg, the head of unscripted shows at Netflix],” Bajaria said.
“And they actually have like a bunch of development. They have a movie in development; a [scripted] series that they’re working on. So all very early development, with a movie, a TV show and a couple of unscripted shows. But yeah, the movie’s great.”
The couple’s previous collaboration with Netflix — a docuseries titled “Harry & Meghan” — proved to be a massive hit after its release in Dec. 2022.
They also executive-produced Netflix’s docuseries “Live To Lead,” as well as “Heart of Invictus,” a documentary following athletes preparing for the Harry-founded Invictus Games, which hit the streamer in August 2023.
Also that month, author Carley Fortune confirmed Archewell is adapting her romance novel “Meet Me at the Lake” for Netflix.
