Netflix execs say former ‘Top Gear’ trio not “worth the money”.
Jeremy Clarkson and his co-hosts were signed by Amazon in a deal that Jeff Bezos, Amazon Network exec admitted was “very, very, very expensive.”
Amazon Prime may be bragging about its recent acquisition of former top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond for a new motoring show as a valuable deal due to their loyal fan base. But the deal, estimated to be worth $250 million, which even CEO Jeff Bezos admitted was “very, very, very, expensive,” has now been called overrated.
“We have past episodes of Top Gear, so we have a pretty good gauge of what audiences like,” Netflix chief product officer Neil Hunt told online magazine Digital Spy. “Our buying decisions tend to be somewhat data-driven. We have a lot of data to get the deals we want. Clearly it wasn’t worth the money to make the deal.”
Hunt added: “There is an audience for everything and it is not up to us to judge if Amazon has paid too much or not.”
Netflix was rumored as the frontrunner looking to sign Clarkson after he was fired from Top Gear earlier in the year for punching a producer.
The as-yet-unnamed motoring show on Amazon Prime is set for release in fall 2016.
