Meghan Markle has been dealt a fresh blow as it has emerged the second season of her Netflix lifestyle programme lost 500,000 viewers compared to the first series.
With Love, Meghan returned to screens on August 26 and the latest data means it has failed to match even the lukewarm reception of season one, which debuted March 4.
In early August, Netflix and the Sussexes triumphantly announced the extension of their production deal, albeit on a first-look basis, alongside the release date for the return of the lifestyle show.
However, both parties may now be coming away disappointed as season two, filmed at the same time as the first, failed to break into the streaming giant’s top 10 most-watched shows for the week of its release.
The second season of Meghan Markle's Netflix show has failed to match the viewing figures of the first series
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The show was given a six-day window, from August 25 to 31, to crack Netflix’s most popular shows list, but could not manage it.
Number 10 on the list, the murder mystery Untamed, earned a relatively low 2.1 million views across that period.
While the streamer does not release viewing figures for shows outside of the 10 best performers, the inability of With Love, Meghan to beat Untamed’s ratings suggests a significant drop of 500,000 viewers compared to season one, Forbes reported.
The first series accrued a marginally more successful 2.6 million in March of 2024, just edging its way into the top 10 for the week of its release.
The show failed to crack Netflix's top 10 in the first week of its release last month
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In a further blow, the second series also failed to crack Luminate’s Top 50 Streaming Charts for the period between August 22 and 28 among US viewers.
This suggests the show had totted up as little as 1.11 million pairs of eyeballs in the critical first two days of going live on Netflix, Deadline reported.
How With Love, Meghan season two will hold up long term remains to be seen, but the post-launch appeal of the first outing made for grim viewing.
According to Netflix’s What We Watched report, covering January and June 2025, the first series ranked #383 in its catalogue with 5.3 million views.
Season two may have lost as much as half a million viewers compared to the first
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That ranking would be considered disappointing for a Netflix original production, especially considering it was bested by Meghan’s former legal drama Suits.
This is despite Suits having concluded in 2019, six years ago, and the Duchess’s involvement ending a year prior to that.
In a further blow, the second outing has also faced similarly bruising reviews to the first from both critics and general audiences.
Review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes records With Love Meghan season two as receiving just 17 per cent positive verdicts from professional critics.
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Netflix and the Sussexes have failed to replicate the success of their first project together
|NETFLIX
Regarding Meghan and Prince Harry’s work with Netflix, nothing has come close to matching the success of their first project with the streamer.
The 2022 six-part documentary, aptly titled Harry & Meghan, delved into the couple’s relationship, time within the royal fold and falling out with the Firm.
While announcing the deal last month, Netflix boasted the documentary debuted to a huge 23.4 million views.
These staggering numbers earned it the accolades of "the most viewed documentary ever through its first 4 days" and reaching the English Top 10 TV list in 85 countries.
As a result, the show is now Netflix’s fifth most popular documentary series.