Prince Harry's Netflix Show Flops With Audiences

Prince Harry's new Netflix show has flopped with audiences, failing to break into the daily Netflix Top 10 streaming charts in America and Britain since its global release on August 30.

The show, which follows the inspiring journeys of wounded, sick, and injured veterans who competed in the 2022 Invictus Games, is Harry's first major solo docuseries project as part of the multi-million-dollar partnership deal signed between his Archewell Productions company and the streaming giant in 2020.

Harry and Meghan founded Archewell Productions and Archewell Audio as the content creation arms of their personal organization, created to launch their Hollywood careers after their sensational split from the monarchy and move to California.

Heart of Invictus was intended to be the first project released from the Netflix partnership. This, however, was delayed, with the couple's bombshell-heavy Harry & Meghan show, which charted their dramatic royal experiences, being released first in December 2022.

The six-part Harry & Meghan docuseries dominated news coverage in Britain and America upon its release, almost instantly finding itself atop the daily Netflix Top 10 charts on either side of the Atlantic.

Though Heart of Invictus has won over film and television critics, its failure to find instant popularity on the Netflix platform which would have been reflected in a position on the daily Top 10 chart, echoes the failure of Harry and Meghan's second TV project titled Live to Lead.

The little-known series was released just days after the Harry & Meghan show's final installment and featured in-depth interviews with notable global figures such as Gloria Steinem, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, and Greta Thunberg, over seven episodes.

Live to Lead failed to make the Netflix Top 10 charts and was largely overlooked by the media and critics. Entertainment review site Rotten Tomatoes lists the show with only a 16 percent audience rating classified as "rotten," with no critics score being listed due to an insufficient volume of reviews to generate a ranking.

Though Heart of Invictus has not reached the Netflix Top 10 chart, it has fared better than any of the Archewell Productions and Netflix collaborations with critics, and the audiences who have tuned in have responded positively.

As of September 1, Rotten Tomatoes lists the show with an 80 percent "fresh" rating from critics, against a 45 percent "rotten" rating from audiences.

Newsweek approached Netflix representatives via email for comment.

Among the critics to praise the show, Carol Midgley of The Times of London, wrote in her four-star review that "this is Prince Harry at his best," noting his "relaxed ease, congeniality and self-awareness" in front of the camera as he contextualized the stories of the Invictus Games veterans with his own experiences in the armed forces.

On why the show may have fallen short of expectations from an audience point of view, royal commentator, Richard Fitzwilliams, told Newsweek that its length and the waning popularity of its featured presenter could have been important factors.

"The Invictus Games is a superb creation by Harry and the stories of courage the series tells are remarkable, with the war in Ukraine providing a sober backdrop to the Games," he said.

"The problem is its length. This documentary lasts for five hours and is far too long. The team behind it won an Oscar for the documentary White Helmets, about the Syrian Civil War—this lasted only 40 minutes. However uplifting the stories told here, there is simply no excuse for a mistake like this."

Fitzwilliams noted there was an absence of "direct attacks on the royal family," which not only generate headlines but also translate into viewers.

Though those who have tuned in to the show responded positively, its lackluster performance on Netflix comes at a difficult moment in Harry and Meghan's post-royal careers.

In June, the couple announced that they were parting ways with another high-profile streaming partner, Spotify, after working together on just one series for the platform.

In the days after the split was announced, Spotify executive, Bill Simmons, made headlines when he described the couple as "f****** grifters" on his own podcast.

This embarrassing knock was followed soon after by United Talent Agency boss Jeremy Zimmer's public criticism of Meghan, labeling her "not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent."

Heart of Invictus is Harry and Meghan's first release since the Spotify knock, and a much hoped-for hit would re-establish their positions in the entertainment industry to embark on their next project, a screen adaptation of the hit romance novel, Meet Me at the Lake.

"They simply must diversify, their popularity in the U.S. has been adversely affected by their constant onslaughts on the royals and Prince William's popularity in America has been revealed to be huge," Fitzwilliams told Newsweek.

"The contract with Netflix is worth £80 million. A great deal will depend on how their adaptation of Meet Me at the Lake is received or it may go the way of Spotify. Netflix is soon to show the last series of The Crown, after that the contract with the Sussexes may also be less valuable to them."

Though the show has not been an instant feature of the Netflix Top 10, Heart of Invictus could prove to have a renewal in interest later this month, as both Harry and Meghan prepare to make highly publicized appearances at the 2023 Invictus Games in Germany.

This year's games will take place in Düsseldorf between September 9 and 16.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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