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The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2026

Netflix and Meghan Markle's As Ever brand parted ways

A reported $100M bet on the Sussexes shrank to a cancelled show and a brand partnership both sides called 'as it was always intended'.

Netflix · 2026-03-06

What happened

In 2020 Netflix signed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for a reported $100 million, betting that their star power would carry original content. Their documentary Harry & Meghan was a hit, but the Polo documentary and the lifestyle series With Love, Meghan, which ran two seasons alongside the launch of her As Ever brand, failed to match it.

In August 2025 the couple extended the partnership for an amount Page Six reported as 'much' less than the original deal, with adaptations of Meet Me at the Lake and The Wedding Date still in development. On 6 March 2026 Netflix and As Ever announced they were ending the brand partnership, calling it 'as it was always intended' — while an industry source told Page Six 'her show did not go on so it did not make sense to continue the partnership', with With Love, Meghan not recommissioned for a third season amid falling ratings.

The cost to Netflix was a headline deal that shrank: one hit documentary, a cancelled series, an ended brand partnership and projects still in limbo. The couple kept an overall relationship with the streamer, but the $100M-era bet had been wound down in steps.

Why it happened

  • Netflix paid celebrity rates for a couple whose content hit once: the renewal at a fraction of the original deal was the market re-pricing the bet.
  • The brand and the show were one bet: As Ever existed to feed With Love, Meghan and vice versa, so when the show was not renewed, the partnership had nothing left to hold.
  • Framing the split as 'always intended' let both sides avoid the cancellation story, but the industry source's line — no show, no partnership — is the business logic.
What it costA $100M deal wound down; show not renewedcostly

The lesson

A star deal is re-priced the moment content underperforms: $100M renewed for much less, then the brand deal ended when the show was not renewed. What a name brings in, ratings take back out.

Sources

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