The Sussexes are returning to the UK with significantly reduced media deals in an industry where fame alone can no longer guarantee success
Having settled in California in the aftermath of their dramatic decoupling from the royal family in 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced a partnership that appeared to set a clear destination for their new lives outside the House of Windsor.
With every global media stable clamouring for their signature, the couple revealed a deal with Netflix reportedly worth $100m. The ambitions were lofty and broad, including scripted and unscripted projects, shows for all ages and documentaries.
A $20m podcast deal with Spotify appeared to confirm their ambitions; the Sussexes were reinventing themselves in the competitive world of content creation, a media powerhouse in the booming universe of streaming and podcasting.
As the couple now prepare to return to the UK, they do so with those mega-deals either pared back or expired, and their media plans less clear. It raises the question: is this the end of their American dream?
As with all things Harry and Meghan-related, their various media forays have spawned copious amounts of reactionary content and commentary. Each appearance, commission and production has been dissected: there have been blockbuster hits, much-publicised misses and some brutal reviews along the way.
For Harry, the pull of returning to the UK, if perhaps not permanently, has been clear for a while.
He says he loves his country, and in an interview with the Guardian last year, he admitted he hankered for home.
“I have always loved the UK and I always will love the UK. It’s been good to reconnect with the causes I am passionate about. I have been able to spend some time with people that I have known for so long. It is hard to do it from far away.”
Perhaps more so recently because his father, King Charles, has been ill. And on the work front, it hasn’t been easy either.
Six years in the content game offers a case study in how difficult it can be to negotiate the shifting sands of a transformed media landscape, so difficult that even a Hollywood actor and a British prince are not guaranteed to succeed.
Those years have proved there is one bankable aspect of the Sussex brand: their relationship with the royal family continues to be devoured on an industrial scale. However, launching lifestyle brands and philanthropic pursuits that rely purely on name recognition – even with a packed contacts book of A-list friends to help – cannot guarantee reliable success in the cut-throat era of the attention economy.
“The Sussexes have kind of got caught up in the media’s awkward teenage transition,” said Evan Shapiro, a former US media executive turned leading analyst of the creator economy. “Just being famous is no longer enough … The last time Meghan Markle worked in show business [starring in the US legal drama Suits], it was a different era. It was top down: ‘We push it out, you watch it.’ That’s just how it worked.
“That era has passed. It’s fucking hard [now] … the competition is literally every human on earth. Eight billion people with phones who are all competing with Meghan Markle.”
The pair were in demand, talking with the likes of Disney and Apple before the Netflix deal was signed. Spotify was also pursuing big-name deals when it secured the Sussexes.