Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been described as "controversial" by Netflix's co-chief. Their ambivalence among the public has been particularly good for the streaming giant's numbers. Photo / AP
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are controversial and great at getting attention, the chief executive of Netflix has claimed.
Ted Sarandos, the co-chief of the global streaming service, said the Harry & Meghan series was still one of the most-watched
In a live event written up by US business magazine Forbes, Sarandos is reported to have said the couple’s controversy was “usually a good thing”, adding: “You may love them or hate them, but you’re watching.”
The Sussexes have signed a multi-year deal with Netflix and have so far produced a six-part series about their lives, a voiceover for documentary Live to Lead and Prince Harry’s docu-series Heart of Invictus. A children’s animation, Pearl, has been dropped.
The couple’s Archewell Productions will develop the bestselling romance novel Meet Me at the Lake into a film.
Despite rumours that the couple’s deal with Netflix, worth up to US$100 million ($161.8m), was beginning to cool, Sarandos spoke about its success.
“The documentary we did on them [Harry & Meghan] is still one of our most-watched documentaries of all time on Netflix and huge, particularly in the UK, where people just devour everything about them,” he said.
“They’re controversial, but that’s usually a good thing. You may love them or hate them, but you’re watching.
“And I do think that they are also going to be very strong storytellers, with great exposure to media in terms of what people want to talk about, what they think about, and they’re great at getting attention.”
The Netflix boss said both the deals with the Sussexes and Barack and Michelle Obama were “gambles and risks”.
“We basically go in and fortify them with a good staff and infrastructure to produce with,” he said.
“Sometimes we bring projects to them. And sometimes they bring projects to us. So it works out nicely.”
Upcoming projects
Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria recently said the Sussexes had several projects in the pipeline.
“They have a couple of unscripted things they’re working on,” she said during a Netflix preview event in February.
“And they actually have a bunch of development, they have a movie in development, a [scripted] series that they’re working on. So all very early development, with a movie, a TV show and a couple of unscripted shows. But yeah, the movie’s great.”
Sources close to the couple have previously told The Telegraph the Sussexes have several “fun” television series in the pipeline.
“There will be more of a heavy focus on fictional, scripted content,” one said. “It will be rom-coms, feel-good and light-hearted programmes.”
From now on, the couple will work in mainly executive producer roles, allowing them to pursue other projects and philanthropic work.
Their output is said to have been affected by the Hollywood writers strike. They have also lost some members of staff, including Bennett Levine, a production manager, and Ben Browning, internal content head.