Clarkson show revs up online TV price war

Amazon uses debut of The Grand Tour to undercut rival Netflix on annual subscription cost

AS GIANTS of the new broadcasting world, Amazon and Netflix are usually jointly cited as the future of television.

But the eve of The Grand Tour appears to have sparked a price war between the two, as they battle for world screen domination.

Amazon Prime has knocked £20 off its normal subscription price to entice fans of the former Top Gear team to its services, as it announced it will expand the show to 200 countries.

At £59 a year, the last-minute offer has made the service cheaper than Netflix, whose basic subscription is £5.99 a month.

The short-term deal was offered alongside adverts starring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May yesterday, as they took their final steps towards releasing the first episode of The Grand Tour at midnight. Initially launched in five territories including the UK, it will spread to 200 countries in December, the team announced. Top Gear was seen in 214 countries in 2015, before Clarkson was axed from the BBC show.

The expansion mimics the ambition of Netflix’s The Crown, broadcast to 190 countries after executives leapt on the idea of the period drama to win viewers across the Commonwealth where, as writer Peter Morgan said, “the Queen is their grandmother”.

Both shows will be watched closely by the BBC, which was outbid for The Crown by a Netflix offer of £100 million. The corporation has retained the rights to Top Gear while Clarkson’s team are compelled to make their show suitably different.

Unlike linear channels in the UK, neither online streaming service will give out viewing figures for their muchpublicised shows.

Andy Wilman, executive producer of The Grand Tour, suggested the lack of public feedback would be welcomed by the team, who would instead watch social media to see how their work goes down.

“We’ll never know the numbers because Amazon never gives us the viewing figures,” he told BBC Radio 4.

“That’s a blessing in its own way, because you can just make something and never, ever have to be judged by looking for overnights and consolidated figures. I guess this is the next step, that the show is just going to exist out there.”

He added: “They’re all there with their thumbs banging away so we’ll get it from Twitter, I’d imagine.”

Clarkson said the fundamentals of the show would appeal to a wide audience in any country, claiming: “It’s an international language, cars.”

He said the first episode, which will feature hybrid hypercars the McLaren P1, the Porsche 918 Spyder and Ferrari’s LaFerrari, is likely to be popular, proclaiming himself “very excited” about finally getting to launch day.

“I think programme one will be all right,” he said. “I’d be extremely surprised if that was poorly reviewed.”

The Grand Tour will be reviewed in The Daily Telegraph tomorrow.