(NewsNation) — It was fun while it lasted. Meghan Markle (sorry, Meghan Sussex) basked in being on Netflix’s Top 10 last week — where her show “With Love, Meghan” peaked at No. 5 on Thursday. Sadly, her reign lasted a mere six days.
Netflix claims to have “renewed” the show for a second season, although the extra shows were already shot, paid for and will debut in the fall so she can plug her “As Ever” line of crepe mix, shortbread cookies, jams, teas and dried edible flowers.
‘With Love, Meghan,’ labeled vain by critics, fans
The show debuted at No. 6 on Netflix’s most watched list but was panned as “vain”, “narcissistic” and “pointless” by critics and fans alike in the U.S. and England and garnered a mere 20% like rate on Rotten Tomatoes.
As my insider told me last week: “It’s necessary for a second season because Netflix has sunk so much money into As Ever — and she can promote the products in the second season she couldn’t promote in this one due to all the trademark hassle. But yeah, (Netflix) is still done — they’re trying to recoup the investment.”
The six days on the Top 10 list can be chalked up to intense media coverage of the show, which garnered public interest, my sources added. But what would be really interesting — and something Netflix will never release — is the drop-off rate, as in how long people actually watched and how many shows they consumed.
Meghan Markle’s Netflix show garners 526K views in first 6 days
What we do know is that the eight-part series was watched by 526,000 households in the first six days it was available on Netflix since its release March 4, according to data gathered by Samba TV.
Because Netflix released all episodes at once and didn’t space them out one per week, we will never know how many of the shows were actually watched.
According to the Daily Mail, Netflix bosses are “worried” about the poor reviews — especially as they are a business partner in her lifestyle brand: “Netflix bosses are all worried now because they have invested a lot in the product line. They don’t know when and how to roll it all out.”
One thing’s for sure: Markle won’t be signing another $100 million deal anytime soon.
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