Netflix lost out to Amazon on the prominent Top Gear TV show earlier this year. Now Netflix says Amazon, which reportedly bought 36 episodes for $250 million, might have overpaid with its big bid.
Netflix unfazed
Netflix’s chief product officer, Neil Hunt, told Digital Spy that the new Top Gear show “wasn’t worth the money.” Hunt said the past episodes of Top Gear are with Netflix, and therefore, they have a pretty good gauge of the audiences liking and preferences.
“Our buying decisions tend to be somewhat data-driven. We have a lot of data to get the deals we want, so there we go,” Hunt said, adding the show has been sold at much higher price than its actual worth. Hunt noted, “there is an audience for everything and it is not up to us to judge if Amazon has paid too much or not.”
Netflix is not fazed by the spending power of Amazon, and believes the stars of Top Gear were not worthy of the exorbitant sum paid. Hunt said Netflix is much bigger than Amazon, and therefore, has the potential to write much bigger checks. “There might be other people ranting, but we’re still in a good place,” he added.
Apple was also in the race
The three famous Top Gears presenters (Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May) will be hosting the show, the rights for which have been acquired by Amazon for a “very, very, very” high price, acknowledged Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who did not mention the price. The firing of Clarkson led to the departure of the trio from BBC, and it was said that Netflix, at one point in time, was the front-runner to hire them all for a similar show.
The new motoring show by the team comprising of Clarkson, Hammond and May has a total budget of £160 million for making 36 episodes or £4.4 million per show. The series has not been named until now, and is expected to air sometime next year.
Apart from Netflix and Amazon, apparently Apple was also interested in acquiring the Top Gear rights. According to recent reports, Apple has plans of making original content for TV, which is why it was interested in buying rights the show.
