Netflix's royal rumble as Harry & Meghan face off against The Crown

The Royal Family have always been able to draw crowds and documentaries about their lives have often been some of the most viewed material across the world.

With the release of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s docuseries, simply titled Harry & Meghan, on December 8 on streaming platform Netflix, this trend looks set to continue. Online privacy and streaming experts at VPNOverview.com have analysed viewing figures and search volume to find out if Harry & Meghan can topple docudrama The Crown and gain the top spot on Netflix.

Early figures for Harry & Meghan from the Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) show that the first part of the documentary had viewing figures of 2.4 million. This is a 118% increase on the 1.1 million viewers that series 5 of The Crown gained on its premiere date.

Data also showed that episode three of Harry & Meghan only had an audience of 800,000. Figures from BARB only look at television data, so it is likely that these numbers fall short of the true figures when mobile phones and tablets are considered.

Currently, both shows are in the Netflix top 5 in the UK, with The Crown having stayed within the top 10 for four weeks in both the UK and the US. Harry & Meghan is ranked in second place while The Crown is ranked 4th in the UK and 8th in the US. A spokesperson for VPNOverview had this to say: “While early figures suggest that The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s documentary is flying ahead of its competitor, it’s important to note that The Crown is a complete series. With two more parts to come, it will be interesting to see if Harry & Meghan can retain these viewers and their audience share.”

According to Netflix, The Crown has had 73 million accounts across the world tune in since 2016 when it first released, with season three bringing in 21 million viewers in its first month.

The next part of Harry & Meghan will air on December 15 on Netflix.