Last Friday, the confirmation came that the Duchess of Sussex’s As Ever brand was ending their partnership with Netflix. Netflix became a silent partner in As Ever in 2024-25, helping Meghan get the brand off the ground as part of a synergistic move alongside With Love, Meghan. It was clear that Netflix was looking into lifestyle/entertaining programming, and it was also clear that Netflix’s executives (like CEO Ted Sarandos) think the world of Meghan in particular and wanted to support her foray into building a brand. My interpretation of the “split” was that As Ever’s first year has been so successful, Meghan can and will buy out Netflix’s investment and operate As Ever on her own. But obviously, the Daily Mail’s sources – a neighbor’s cousin’s hair stylist’s ex-lover’s adopted uncle who “works at Netflix” – believe they know what’s really going on.
Netflix had not been ‘not happy’ with Meghan Markle’s As Ever brand before their split. The Duchess of Sussex’s jam and flower sprinkles business just ‘didn’t fit’ and their customers showed ‘no appetite’ for it, a Los Angeles insider claimed.
The Netflix source told the Daily Mail that there has been some consternation at their HQ in Sunset Boulevard over claims Meghan felt they had been ‘too cautious’ with her As Ever brand.
‘Netflix were not happy’, the Mail’s insider said today. The source claimed that Netflix had considered whether to sell As Ever products in their new bricks and mortar stores in the US – off the back of her TV show With Love, Meghan. But it never happened.
‘They were not happy with the fact that no one really cared about the brand – so when then were looking to create As Ever areas in Netflix House there was no appetite for it’, the source said.
‘It just didn’t fit with Squid Game or Strangers Things or Bridgerton like they had hoped’.Netflix has been asked to comment. But on Friday it released a statement that suggested it never planned to be a long-term backer of Meghan’s lifestyle company.
The Duchess of Sussex had apparently felt that ending their partnership after less than a year would allow her jams and candles to ‘go global’. But an insider at the streaming giant in California has said that the tie-up was another in a long list of failures between the two parties. Cookie Queens has not been picked up by Netflix despite their new ‘first look deal’. Meet Me at the Lake remains in development 2.5 years on despite their previous $100m contract.
Eric Schiffer, chairman of Reputation Management Consultants in the US, told Page Six: ‘Losing Netflix on As Ever is a brutal backlash because the halo just got ripped off, and what’s left looks like another failed Montecito money grab. The pattern starts looking like lethally unwise brand management. For Meghan, losing Netflix is the kiss of death to the pitch that prestige partners still see unlimited upside’.
“Sources” have been saying variations of “why didn’t Netflix sell As Ever products alongside their Bridgerton-themed products?” for months now. Those sources really don’t understand IPs versus lifestyle brands, huh? Bridgerton and Squid Game are fictional dramas and Netflix is squeezing money out of those IPs based on the popularity of the Netflix shows. Meanwhile, Netflix was doing something completely different with Meghan – they were helping her build her own stand-alone brand and they were experimenting with lifestyle programming using a charismatic celebrity they already had under contract. The Mail’s sources’ complaints boil down to “why isn’t Meghan being treated like BRIDGERTON” and I don’t know what else to say to these idiots.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
