I would presume the US bias will change in the 2nd episode which seems to be in S. Africa

They are reviewing this on Radio 5 now.

They are being positive.

I enjoyed it, and I’d challenge anyone who liked the ‘old’ Top Gear not to like it too.

I was surprised by the amount of ‘car content’ in the first episode though.
I thought it was going to play out like this... Top Gear would do the more informative car stuff, but in a humours and entertaining manner (as the last few episodes of the latest Top Gear was starting to do), and The Grand Tour was going to do the challenges (almost like an entire series of the old Christmas specials). But looks like I was wrong...

I know they’d have faced criticism from the true petrol heads if they hadn’t had featured at least some cars, but let’s face it, it’s the challenges that made Top Gear (and Clarkson, Hammond, and May) have mass appeal. So to exclude that element entirely from the first episode of The Grand Tour was risky, but it doesn’t appear to have affected the (largely positive) reviews. Still I’m looking forward to those elements returning in next week’s episode...

I’m also surprised at how much they’ve brought across from ‘old’ Top Gear. I honestly didn’t expect them to have a new track (complete with funny section names) which they’ll use to put cars around. And even when the new track made an appearance I thought maybe they’d only be allowed to review them going round it, not time them and have a leader board... but nope, that was there too. But I suppose it’s difficult for the BBC to claim they own the idea of timing different cars going round a track.

I look forward to watching it next week. And I also look forward to seeing the new Matt LeBlanc fronted series of Top Gear.

I think that they could not use the concept of a handwritten leaderboard (that's Top Gear), hence the snazzy graphics.

They didn't exclude challenges completely. The three supercars were used for several challenges.

Yes, but not exactly the sort of challenges most associated with ‘old’ Top Gear. For that you’d have expected them to see how far each car could have got without any actual petrol, whilst towing a caravan, etc.

I'm looking forward the episode where James has a car and what seems to made out of bricks in the sea? and the Buggies in the desert looks really well made.

That's the one I'm looking forward to.

Enjoyed this first episode very much and look forward to the next one.

I thought the celeb jumping out of the plane was hilarious. I wasn't expecting what happened and in reality it wouldn't be funny, but the way they portrayed it was excellent.
Clarkson, Hammond and May work very well off each other and make the show extremely entertaining whether you drive a car or not.

*note for those having trouble viewing this...speak to a child, they'll show you how.

It was OK, must admit they must have used the BBC budget for the whole series in the first 5 mins !

Main issue I had was due to my crap BB speed, had a naff picture for some of the time -(

Grand Tour breaking records for Amazon in views and subscriptions. They seem to be more than happy

http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-gra...ewing-records/

Earlier in this thread it was noted that Amazon will not release viewing figures for TGT on a regular basis (and are not obliged to since they don't fall under OFCOM). So remarks by their CEO about "smashing records" mean very little without concrete numbers.

However Amazon will have much better data than the BBC ever did about who exactly is watching TGT since all downloads (apart from pirate viewings) are tied to an account which will have an intimate profile of the viewer including what else they've bought/viewed from Amazon.

I'm not surprised really it's easily the biggest thing to happen to Amazon Prime

The name The Grand Tour just has a classiness to it, it's going to be huge.

Yes, it sounds like Amazon are very happy with its initial success. Although I suspect they were always going to make such a statement. Although they’ll probably never release the actual numbers to back up such claims I doubt they’d flat out lie about them.


Undoubtedly the biggest thing Amazon Prime have done in the UK since launch, something that was probably previously said about Ripper Street. And one of their bigger things ever done worldwide too (it didn’t quite get the same publicity in the US as some of their other originals, but it certainly got some).


I don’t believe any broadcaster, online or otherwise, are obliged to release their viewing figures by Ofcom. As I’ve said, Amazon will probably never release the actual number to back up their statement, but I doubt they lie about such a thing.
You’re correct though, Amazon and Netflix have a far more accurate viewer ratings system than what BARB deliver for traditional broadcasters, so it’s a shame the numbers are never made public. But at the end of the day, Amazon and Netflix aren’t as concerned about the simple number of viewers as traditional broadcasters due to them have a completely different business model.

The BBC News website has hidden the news about it breaking records on Newsbeat - Their news pages for kids!

To be fair, they did run the following on the day it launched, on their main news website – ‘The first episode of The Grand Tour, Jeremy Clarkson's first TV series since exiting Top Gear, has been given rave reviews by critics.’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38012655

I’m not really sure the fact that it’s been watched more than any other premier on the Amazon Prime service warrants mainstream news coverage.

I don't for a moment suggest that they are lying, I'm sure TGT has been a great sucess for them on their terms. All I'm saying is that without the numbers we can't put that sucess in context. Has TGT had double the viewers of the old Top Gear? Or only half, a quarter, a tenth?

And for Amazon, it's all about subscriptions and associated sales anyway.

How will the numbers hold up in the long term? Will it justify Amazon's eye-watering, eggs-all-in-one-basket investment? Maybe it's already paid for itself (though I'd doubt that)..

The problem for Amazon is that without constant publicity and advertising, it's very easy for streamed shows to be forgotten about by everyone apart from the fans. You're not going to pick up the casual viewer, because they simply don't have access to it. However one thing Clarkson and co have been good for recently is getting lots of 'free' advertising via (sometimes manufactured?) controversy creating news coverage. We'll have to see if that is something that continues.

Perhaps that's the rationale behind releasing episodes weekly, rather than all in one go as has become the norm with streaming shows? Each week they can kick out some new social media posts/push notifications/app thumbnails relatively cheaply.

I'd love to know how many people watch it via Amazon, vs how many watched it via other sites.

It would be interesting.

Other sites? What can you possibly mean?

I imagine those watching on "other sites" are missing out on the fantastic picture quality.

Usually the picture quality isn't worth it, but in this case it really is, if you have 4k or even 1080p it still looks stunning, it's the best picture quality you'll ever see.

Bear in mind though, that Amazon probably don't care about pure viewing figures. You hit the nail on the head in your second paragraph - associated sales. I would imagine that the very vast majority of people who signed up to Prime to be able to watch TGT, signed up for the full yearly subscription (as opposed to the monthly video only package) so will be pre-disposed to use Amazon first for retail purposes. Even if they crunched the numbers and concluded that the uptake in Prime subscriptions didn't actually cover the reported £160m outlay, I'll bet another report would show that the additional spending on their main site from these subscribers more than covered it; subscribers who will continue to subscribe year after year. I suspect that if it hasn't already, it won't take very long at all for Amazon to recoup their outlay on this show. In the short -term, they won't care if the show gets 100; 100,000 or 100m viewers. Maybe that's why, according to Clarkson, Amazon won't tell them the figures? Maybe it genuinely doesn't matter to Amazon?

You raise a good point about long-term investment though. At some point, there will be an inevitable drop-off in the uptake created by TGT. That's when the number crunchers will start to reign in the budget, and possibly kill their golden egg laying goose.

Episode 2 Trailer --- Looking Very Good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XP5boqN1QE

Operation Desert Stumble