The Grand Tour Risks Going Old School On Amazon

The latest trailer for The Grand Tour just got us more excited about the new Amazon Prime show. One thing they are doing is a big risk, but might just change streaming television.

All of us that had put aside November 18th to binge watch the entire season of The Grand Tour just got freed up. The show is going old school and releasing a new show each week. A surprising decision considering how streaming television has operated to this point.

For those of us that fell in love with Top Gear on television, it became appointment watching. Something TV executives are struggling to find outside of sports. In the world of original streaming programs on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and others they have promoted the freedom to watch when you want. They have released the entire season of shows at one time.

Binge-watching has become the norm for streaming series. Services have found that viewers get more engaged when they can follow a storyline to its completion. Today’s terrestrial television programming seasons are shorter than ever and have long breaks in original programming.

The Grand Tour will try and recreate the excitement of weekly shows and appointment television. When you went to work and talked to your friends about what you saw last night. There will not be any multi-week breaks that we know of. It will allow fans to stay engaged with the show.

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Another thing that may help The Grand Tour is that while they will only premiere one new show a week, you can watch old episodes anytime you want. The BBC and BBC America ran constant reruns of Top Gear allowing new fans to catch up quickly.

One of the truths about Top Gear is the age of the viewing audience skewed older. That audience has been less willing to adapt to the new streaming normals. By providing a more traditional once a week format, they may be able to convert more people. A reason that Amazon Prime was willing to spend so much money for the show.

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I am going to admit that I am a bit disappointed that The Grand Tour will only come out one episode at a time. In the back of my head, I am excited to get back to knowing the night I get to watch Jezza and the boys. It was one of the high points of the week. It is hard to believe that a group that has been on television so long, is about to try and change how we watch it.