Despite Mass Criticism, The First Episode Of ‘New’ Top Gear Was Officially A Hit
It’s pretty clear from the reactions on our live discussion that most of you guys didn’t really take to the first episode of new Top Gear. In fact, the poll we ran yesterday revealed that a whopping 24 per cent of you scored the episode as a 1 out of 10…
Twitter seemed full to the brim with complaints, too, while reviews have been less than favourable. However, in terms of raw numbers, the first episode was actually a hit.
The new Top Gear is a hit. OFFICIALLY. 23 % audience share. 12% MORE than the opening episode of the last series. These are the FACTS.;— achrisevans
Top Gear audience grew throughout the hour. FACT. Won its slot. FACT. Still number one on i Player. FACT. These are THE FACTS folks.;— achrisevans
In a series of Tweets, host Chris Evans revealed that the show enjoyed a massive 23 per cent audience share, representing a 12 per cent increase on the first episode of series 22 when the show was still presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.
Top Gear i Player views now at 1.1 million. Rock n roll ! Thank you. Team and channel totally thrilled.;— achrisevans
The caveat here is that the intrigue surrounding just what the show would be like in the post-Clarkson era will have no doubt fuelled the apparent popularity; the acid test will be the figures for the second and third episodes. However, it seems people weren’t switching off, because the audience actually grew throughout the airing. Evans also revealed this morning that iPlayer views have topped one million.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Wow…
Next week there will be a lot less people watching, because they now know for sure that it is crap
Those 4 million were all giving it a chance.
Bet you £10 those numbers are halved next week.
Double or nothing, the show will be cancelled after this season.
Ofcourse there were a lot of viewers, people wanted to see how it is, see how the next episode does and then we’ll talk
Seriously Car Throttle how much does the BBC pay you to post nice things about that bad show?
Evans doesn’t seem to take criticism well.
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Those figures will crumple after the next episode…
ok ok…we’ll see the ‘hit’ after two more episodes.
He argues like a kid.
Alot people wanted to give it a chance FACT.
Everyone watched it, beacuse it was advertised like nothing else FACT.
The episode was sh#t FACT.