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The Grand Tour: Netflix boss claims Amazon paid $250 million for series

Ted Sarandos also revealed why Netflix didn't outbid their competitor

Jack Shepherd
Monday 21 November 2016 12:55 GMT
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(Amazon)

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After months of waiting, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May’s new motoring show, The Grand Tour, finally reached Amazon, leaving hundreds of Dad’s around the country confused about how to set up Prime on their TVs.

With so many new Prime subscribers, Amazon are likely raking in money, but will it be enough to compensate the cost of the show? According to previous reports, the company spent upwards of $160 million on the series, equalling an average of $4.5 million per episode.

Netflix boss Ted Sarandos has weighed in on the situation, claiming that even more money was spent on the series than previously claimed.

"That's an under-reported number,” Sarandos told The Telegraph. “It was about a quarter of a billion dollars.”

That’s almost an addition $100 million spent on The Grand Tour than previously claimed. Does Serandos regret not acquiring the show for Netflix?

"We knew what it was worth,” he continued. “We made a play for that show, definitely, but we've had every season of Top Gear on Netflix in most territories in the world, so we had a better sense than most of what the audience was for Top Gear on our platform.”

So far, The Grand Tour has received rave reviews across the board, including The Independent’s which labeled the show “Top Gear with a bigger budget.” Episode two will be available on Amazon Prime this Friday.

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