Latest news with #AsEver
Newsweek
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Meghan Markle Urged to Save Netflix Partnership
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Meghan Markle should strike up a different kind of deal with Netflix in the hope of saving her relationship with the streaming giant as a TV producer, a culture expert told Newsweek. Prince Harry and Meghan signed a five-year deal in September 2020 to make shows for Netflix and the contract is due to expire this September. It has not currently been renegotiated and The Sun and People both reported Netflix is planning to bring the partnership to an end. Meghan Markle collects honey from her beehives during filming for her Netflix show "With Love, Meghan" which broadcast in March 2025. Meghan Markle collects honey from her beehives during filming for her Netflix show "With Love, Meghan" which broadcast in March 2025. COURTESY OF NETFLIX Why It Matters That, however, might be more complicated than it sounds as Netflix is an equity partner in her online shop, As Ever, where she sells wine and produce including jam and flower sprinkles. Her latest Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, was designed to help market As Ever, meaning canning the series could damage the commercial success of her company, which Netflix makes money from. It is, of course, also possible that Netflix will renegotiate the deal after all when the time comes. What to Know Brand and culture expert Nick Ede told Newsweek the upcoming second season of With Love, Meghan, expected in the fall, could be make or break for the couple's chances of keeping a Netflix deal of some kind. However, he also said there is another option available for both sides: "What a lot of studios do is something called a first look deal where she gets to come up with her ideas and they get the first look. "Which means they have that almost exclusivity and there's a little bit of a relationship between the two parties. "It's really important for her to get her brand across and with As Ever, it was the perfect way to have the two together but we know that social media can be really great too. "She might go and do a YouTube series and YouTube is the most watched thing on the planet. There are other avenues for her but from an optics point of view and a success point of view, I suspect she would want to be in a renewed relationship with Netflix because they have powered her and her husband in massive way over the last five years." If Meghan and Harry do part ways with Netflix, they could try to pitch to other networks, though a prime contact in the TV industry may be about to bow out of his current role. Deadline reports Brian Robbins, co-chief executive of Paramount Global, is due to leave his role after a merger with Skydance. It is, of course, entirely possible Robbins could still put in a good word for Meghan even after his departure but being Montecito neighbors with the co-CEO would have certainly been a helping hand. "There's an opportunity here for her to shop herself around to other networks," Ede said. "She could talk to Hulu or she could talk to Disney because she's obviously been tied down to this deal. "She has the next season of With Love, Meghan coming out so I think all eyes will be on that and whether it does well from a numbers point of view and a PR point of view. "So that may be where Netflix decide to either keep her and say look we're going to commission another season or they might decide we don't actually want to do anything with you at the moment." Netflix's Stake in As Ever As an equity partner, Netflix is entitled to a cut of As Ever's profits but past statements from chief executive Ted Sarandos suggest he is also planning to use the company as a test case for a wider expansion into merchandise. "I think Meghan is underestimated in terms of her influence on culture," he told Variety in March. "When we dropped the trailer for the Harry & Meghan doc series [their December 2022 biopic], everything on-screen was dissected in the press for days. "The shoes she was wearing sold out all over the world. The Hermès blanket that was on the chair behind her sold out everywhere in the world." "People are fascinated with Meghan Markle," he said. "She and Harry are overly dismissed." And he hinted he had plans to use As Ever to learn lessons for Netflix's wider expansion when he said: "We're a passive partner in Meghan's company, and it's a big discovery model for us right now." Ede said: "They would probably keep the stake in the brand because they've actually developed that brand with her and its important to keep that relationship. "I don't think they would want to cut their noses off to spite their faces but if they don't renew their TV shows, they will just be getting revenue stream from her shop. "They've invested a lot into that so they will want to see a return, a massive return. My gut feeling is they will do a first look deal with her. "They will look at the numbers for the new season and see if that does relate to sales, because that's what this is really about. People aren't going to subscribe to Netflix to watch the next Meghan show so that's done for them from that point of view." What Happens Next Season 2 of With Love, Meghan has already been filmed, alongside Season 1, Netflix confirmed. According to People, it is due to be released in the fall. Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@ We'd love to hear from you.
Newsweek
a day ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Meghan Markle's As Ever Shop Could Have Made $4.5M in a Week
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Meghan Markle's audience data for her online shop As Ever hints at the potential for multimillion dollar earnings if she can increase the supply of products, Newsweek analysis shows. The Duchess of Sussex released her first product run in April and sold out in minutes, as did a later drop in June and her first wine, a Napa Valley rosé, on July 1. The lightning fast sales pose questions about how much Meghan could have made had the supply of produce been unlimited. Newsweek has been told that the As Ever website had half a million page views in the week of the second launch, giving some insight into the scale of demand for her produce. Meghan Markle is seen preparing flowers in a still from her Netflix show 'With Love, Meghan' and, inset, carrying a tray of food in a still from a clip she posted on Instagram. Meghan Markle is seen preparing flowers in a still from her Netflix show 'With Love, Meghan' and, inset, carrying a tray of food in a still from a clip she posted on Instagram. Courtesy of Netflix and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex/Instagram Why It Matters Demand appears to be far outstripping the limited number of goods available to buy currently, meaning Meghan is taking home only a fraction of what she could be earning. What to Know Newsweek used the page view data from Meghan's As Ever online shop to provide a rough estimate of the extent of demand. If each of those viewers bought the cheapest product Meghan stocks, her $9 raspberry jam, then that suggests she could have earned $4.5 million in a week. Of course, nothing in life is quite that simple and it is highly likely on the one hand that not all the half a million page views would have led to a sale. On the other hand, it is just as likely that many of those who did buy would have purchased more than one item. And they might also have opted for more expensive products, such as Meghan's most expensive food item, a limited edition orange blossom honey, priced at $28 a jar. Then there's the wine, which sells at $30 a bottle with a minimum of three bottles per order, giving a final price tag of at least $90 for each customer. The first bottle, a Napa Valley rosé, also sold out in minute and she is still working on launching a follow-up sparkling wine. Nick Ede, a U.K. based brand and culture expert, told Newsweek: "I think $4 million is a lot for what you can expect someone like Meghan to earn a week, but definitely they could be earning a million dollars a week. "But I think the main thing is actually to get the product right. I think people are going onto her site to have a look at it, to see if there's new products available. "That might skew those numbers a little bit. The expensive things like the wine, if she gets that right, that's where she's going to make her big bucks." There are additional important caveats. Newsweek's figures estimate a possible revenue, but that does not account for her costs and therefore how much is left as profit. And whatever the company does generate in profits would also be split with Netflix, who are an equity partner in the brand and would therefore be guaranteed a slice. As Ede suggested, there might also have been an unusually high demand during the week of the product drop from people who are curious to try Meghan's range, but are not destined to become regular customers. In other words, whatever the sales in her first week might not necessarily indicate her sales every week. Newsweek's estimates are therefore, of course, not definitive, but they do lend additional insight into the metadata from her website and also the ongoing debate on whether Meghan's business is heading for success or failure. Ede said he felt her greatest chance of success lay not in the food products that she originally used to launch As Ever, but rather the more recent addition of wine. What People Are Saying Nick Ede, a U.K. based brand and culture expert, told Newsweek: "She could at least be making millions of dollars in a week, but is that demand going to go? It's still a novelty product, not an essential product and that's what the issue is. "Will you have repeat customers? I cannot imagine you will have people repeatedly buying crepe mix or flower sprinkles. "And that's the biggest problem with this because the consistency isn't there. You buy one tin of tea and then think, well, actually I can get the same taste for cheaper." Meghan's edible flower sprinkles were among the big points of debate after her With Love, Meghan cooking show, which is partnered with As Ever. However, many mocked them on social media and they sell at $15 for an 0.18-ounce tin of flowers. "I think the wine is actually different," Ede said, "because there's consistency there and people get a preference for a taste and a flavor and they actually like to provide that for birthdays and Christmases and also just have it in their fridge. "If she gets that right, that's where she's going to earn her money. Focus on wine, get the supply side in place and have it available globally and have it distributed so you can go to a wine merchant and buy an As Ever wine. It doesn't necessarily have to be ordered online." What Happens Next Meghan is preparing to launch a new sparkling wine over the course of the summer. Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page. Do you have a question about King Charles III and Queen Camilla, Prince William and Princess Kate, Meghan and Prince Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@ We'd love to hear from you.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
All the celebrity rosé wines ranked: From Angelina Jolie to Cameron Diaz and Meghan Markle... one A-lister will be left VERY sour
It seems every celebrity has a side hustle these days, and many of them start in a vineyard. Earlier this month, Meghan Markle finally released her anticipated As Ever rosé priced at a whopping $30 per bottle.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
We asked a wine expert to try Meghan's rosé. This was her verdict
To much fanfare, Meghan Markle last month released her very own Californian wine, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Mourvèdre, Grenache, and Syrah. The launch of the Napa Valley rosé follows the release of the Duchess's line of fruit 'spreads' (that's jam, to you and I), 'edible' petals (not quite potpourri), herbal tea, crepe and shortbread mix, plus orange blossom honey under her As Ever moniker. The Provençal-style rosé is touted on the bottle as: 'Effortlessly elegant - crafted for slow afternoons and golden-hour gatherings... the essence of sun-drenched outdoor moments.' The rather boozy offering, at 14.5 per cent ABV, retails at £22 ($30) per bottle and is sold in cases of three (plus an extra $20 for shipping). After managing to bag an order of the sold-out wine, The Telegraph enlisted Diane Gross, a wine expert and the owner of Cork, a wine bar in Washington, DC, to give her verdict. Gross knows a thing or two about rosé. Her wine bar, which she opened nearly 18-years-ago, offers 350 varieties of wine ranging from $10 to $400 a bottle. The bar also has a rosé menu served exclusively on their patio. To truly put the wine to the test, Gross conducted her tasting blind. As Ever was concealed in brown paper along with two other bottles, one from California and another Provençal rosé, to avoid bias. Once the glasses were poured, giving her first impression on what turned out to be the Duchess's glass, Gross said the millennial pink wine is 'the colour of rosé everybody likes.' 'I'm getting a little more on the nose here,' she said, adding it had notes of cooked fruit, red fruits, cherries, spice, and candy. Gross continued: 'The wine isn't sweet at all, it's just sort of that top note of tutti frutti, like, it's a little bit like your chewing gum. But it's not a bad thing at all, it happens a lot in rosé.' She also described the wine as a little 'hot', meaning that the taste of alcohol is a little overwhelming. In the blind test, Meghan's wine was her least favourite compared to the other two pale rosés, a French blend with notes of lime and strawberry, and a citrussy Californian offering. However, she insisted she enjoyed it: 'I like it, it just tastes like it has darker fruit notes. It has that sweet-salty finish that you sometimes get with rosé. 'It has a little bit of a blend, the fruit, and the minerality comes through.' But asked if she'd take it to a dinner party the answer was a resounding no. 'When I go to somebody's house, I only take wine that I love. Whether it's going to a party, and I'm bringing a $12 bottle, or I'm going to a nice dinner and I'm bringing a $50 bottle, I only take things that I absolutely love,' she said. 'Probably I wouldn't take it for that reason, okay, but that's [just] me. 'I don't think it would be embarrassing to turn up with it. I think people would think it was super cool, and it tastes good.' And the price point? 'I don't think anybody would be disappointed buying it at $30. It's a tasty wine that folks will enjoy and not feel they have spent too much,' she said. When it comes to the celebrity wine genre, Gross is sceptical but not totally dismissive. She said: 'I would always want to look more, how involved is [the celebrity] really? Are they just putting their name on it? Are they involved in the growing, tasting, the blending?' She conceded that the Duchess had given it a good go. Beyond having a 'nice bottle' and a 'pretty logo', Gross said. 'It seems like some thought went into this, and that there is the style that she's trying to get to. 'For me, that means it was intentional and she was thinking about it, as she is tasting and figuring out what she wanted to do. 'She could have put her name on anything,' she said, adding: 'This was an intentional project, where she really thought about what the wine represented, and what she wanted to represent, which was California.' Gross, who is also from California, says that genuinely comes through. 'You have these beautiful winds, you're on the water,' she adds, somewhat wistfully. A punter's verdict 'I liked Meghan's wine the best' I genuinely liked Meghan's wine the best out of all we had tasted. To me, the notes of Cabernet Sauvignon - one of my favourite grapes - were strong and bolshy, adding an element of peppery spice. To drink, it felt almost velvety and was buttery on the palate. Its bright profile made me think of gold, although perhaps more of the kind you get with costume jewellery, that turns brassy over time. The smell was my least favourite thing about it, reminiscent of the vaguely artificial tang when someone near you opens a bag of Skittles, or something a little soapy. Overall, I enjoyed it but I would probably be equally as happy with a chilled glass of your local supermarket's finest £10 pinot blush. The best things I sampled in Cork was the chips — recently crowned the best in the city, according to Washington City Paper. Perfectly fluffy morsels in golden, frangible, oil-kissed jackets, smothered with herbs and garlic and served with a brothy homemade ketchup that was more akin to a luxurious tomato bisque than a squeeze of Heinz. If Meghan had a product of that calibre, she'd have a returning customer in me. 'It burned the back of my throat' Like our expert, Meghan's rosé was my least favourite of the three we sampled. Let me preface my review with the disclaimer that while I am one of life's great wine lovers, I am far from a connoisseur. My tastes are narrow and specific; Sauvignon Blanc, namely from Marlborough, New Zealand; Vinho Verde, Provençal rosé, Lambrusco, the occasional Crémant and champagne when the occasion calls for it (and sometimes when it doesn't.) As Ever did not have the refreshing qualities I look for in a rosé. It burned in the back of my throat, and I found the taste aggressive. For that reason, Meghan's latest labour of love will not earn a place in my restrictive wine rotation.
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's 'big risk' as 'it dawns on them what they've lost'
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's multi-million-dollar Netflix deal is rumoured to be ending in September, with the couple taking a major financial blow Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are taking a 'big risk' after reports their Netflix deal is not being renewed. It is understood the Sussexes penned a multi-million-dollar deal with the streaming giant in 2020. The contract was said to have been worth around $100 million and saw them producing a raft of content, including the Harry and Meghan docuseries. However the follow-up programmes failed to echo its success, with reports With Love, Meghan, failed to make the top 300 most-watched shows for 2025. The couple's deal with Spotify, thought to be worth around $20 million, was 'mutually' scrapped in released Archetypes, presented by Meghan on the platform, which reached number one in the streaming charts. Daily Mail Royal Editor Rebecca English has now questioned what the Sussexes next move will be. She believes that relying mostly on Meghan's As Ever lifestyle brand poses a 'big risk'. Speaking on the Palace Confidential, she said: 'Harry's got a couple of paying gigs now, he's still the Chief Impact Officer of the therapy company Better Up, he's got his travel firm, but these are not the sort of things that would pay for or afford the sort of lifestyle they have become used to. 'You have to ask yourself, is another book in the offing or are they literally betting everything on the As Ever brand and the rose and jams and teas affording that lifestyle in the future, that is a big risk.' The Daily Mail's Diary Editor Richard Eden believes it is 'dawning' on the Sussexes that they could have had taxpayer-funded security as well as multiple homes if they stayed as working Royals. However the couple decided to step down from their roles in 2020 to start a new life in Montecito, California. Eden said: 'Remember, if they'd stayed in the Royal Family, what they would have had. You would have had all that security, paid for by taxpayers, they would have had a home in Scotland, a home in London, a country home, all that would have come with their positions. "They've chosen to give that up and I think it might be slowly dawning on Harry and Meghan what they have lost.' While there has been no official statement from Netflix, a source told The Sun that the deal had 'run its course'. They added: 'Netflix execs are well aware Meghan's priority now is her own brand, and they won't play second fiddle to that. 'Publicly, there will not be a statement, and of course, if things change dramatically, they'd be open to a one-off project down the line. But for Harry, especially, this will be a blow. It's a huge loss of revenue."
