Netflix boss: Top Gear trio ‘not worth’ $351 million

A NETFLIX boss has criticised the amount Amazon paid for 36 episodes of a new motoring show starring James May, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond.

THEY’RE simply not worth it.

That’s the opinion of a Netflix boss in response to Amazon’s decision to spend a reported $351 million on the Top Gear trio’s new motoring show.

The 36-episode deal will see Jeremy Clarkson pocket $21 million a year for three years with co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond earning a smidge less.

But according to Netflix’s Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt, that’s way more than they’re worth.

“We have past episodes of Top Gear, so we have a pretty good gauge of what audiences like,” said Hunt to Digital Spy.

“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].”

Hunt later backtracked on his comments, releasing a statement which said:

“There is an audience for everything and it is not up to us to judge if Amazon has paid too much or not”.

The yet to be named motoring show won’t be available until next year and at this stage, it’s looking very likely that Stan will score the Australian rights to the program, with the Fairfax and Nine Co owned service already owning the local rights to several other Amazon commissioned shows.

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