Meghan Markle’s new Netflix show flopped, but people loved Adolescence
With Love, Meghan failed to crack the top 300 shows on Netflix for the first half of 2025, which was led by Adolescence and Squid Game.
The program shows the Duchess of Sussex cooking, gardening, and hosting famous friends in her “beautiful California estate,” according to a summary on the streaming platform.
The show was compared to similar lifestyle programs by Martha Stewart and Gwyneth Paltrow, but appears to have failed to attract the same devoted fan following.
It was only watched by 5.3 million viewers globally in the first six months of the year, ranking at No. 383 on Netflix’s list, according to the latest figures released by the company.
More people watched the reruns of Suits, a legal drama starring Markle, than her new show, with 9.1 million tuning in to the series’ first season. With Love, Meghan was not a critical success either, with a 3.2 rating on IMDb and 37% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Polo, the documentary series produced by her husband, Prince Harry, also failed in terms of critical acclaim and performed even worse when it comes to viewership, raking in just 500,000 views. It ranked at 3,436th out of more than 7,000 shows.
In 2020, Harry and Meghan signed a five-year deal with Netflix reportedly worth $100 million that included a six-part documentary following the couple’s falling out with the UK’s Royal Family. It is unclear whether it is going to be renewed.
Murder beats Meghan
The four-part British crime drama Adolescence was the most watched Netflix show this year, drawing in 142 million views this year so far. The gripping series follows 13-year-old Jamie Miller (played by Owen Cooper), who is arrested for the murder of a girl in his school.
The second season of the South Korean dystopian survival drama Squid Game was next with 117 million views, followed by the show’s third – and final – season with 72 million views. The show’s first season remains the most-watched show on Netflix.
American miniseries Zero Game, starring Robert de Niro, and limited crime series Missing You, round up the top five, drawing 61 million and 58 million views, respectively.
The top 10 of the most watched Netlix shows in the first half of 2025 were:
- Adolescence – 145 million viewers
- Squid Game (Season 2) – 117 million
- Squid Game (Season 3) – 72 million
- Zero Day – 61 million
- Missing You – 58 million
- American Murder: Gabby Petito (Season 1) – 56 million
- Ms Rachel (Season 1) – 53 million
- Sirens – 53 million
- The Night Agent (Season 2) – 53 million
- Ginny & Georgia (Season 3) – 48 million
Netflix also noted the “enduring appeal” of its original shows released in 2023 or earlier, with shows like Orange Is the New Black, Ozark, and Money Heist accounting for nearly half of all viewership in the category.
More than one-third of all viewing came from non-English language titles, with 10 out of the 25 most-watched series in the first half of the year being in other languages. In total, people watched more than 95 billion hours of Netflix, with two-thirds of the platform’s subscribers based outside the US.
