Netflix Says Top Gear Trio "Wasn't Worth The Money"

From the moment it was revealed Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond would not be returning to Top Gear, speculation was rife as to where they’d end up. Netflix and ITV appeared to be the frontrunners, but in July Amazon revealed it had signed the trio up in a shock move.

The money involved is staggering - the deal is reported to have cost Amazon $250m (£160m) over three years. Netflix has stayed quiet on the deal, but now its Chief Product Officer, Neil Hunt, has told Digital Spy that based on their viewing data, Clarkson and co. were demanding way too much cash:

"We have past episodes of Top Gear, so we have a pretty good gauge of what audiences like."

"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.

"Clearly it wasn’t worth the money to make the deal… I think they sold themselves for way more money [than they’re worth]."

To be fair to Amazon, this deal is about far more than simply getting a new car show on its product. Amazon’s Prime service is rather forgotten as an on-demand entertainment service, so signing on the Top Gear trio for such vast sums of money is more of a marketing ploy than anything else - it needed to make people realise Prime exists, and it’s certainly done that.

The new show should begin filming shortly, with the first episodes being made available in 2016.