[ad_1]
Apple TV+ says it has a major hit on its hands following the start of the second season of fan-favorite series Ted Lasso.
The streamer’s parent company Apple claims that the show’s second season premiere had the most viewers of a show or movie in its history, as reported by Variety.
However, Apple followed in the footsteps of other streaming services by failing to release any data to back up its claims about the Jason Sudeikis–starring comedy.
No evidence: Apple TV+ claimed that the second season premiere for Ted Lasso was the most watched show in its history, but it failed to provide any hard data to back up the claim; still from Ted Lasso
Sudeikis, formerly of Saturday Night Live, stars as the title character, a college-level American football coach who’s hired to coach an English soccer team, despite knowing hardly anything about the sport.
He’s initially set up for failure, as his hiring is a ploy to destroy the team amid divorce drama from its owners, but Sudeikis’ charmingly folksy coach ends up raising the team’s morale.
Apple says that more accounts streamed the premiere episode both on Friday, July 23 and throughout that weekend than had watched any other content in the service’s history.
However, an account might represent one viewer or several, but the tech giant hasn’t broken down the accounts figure into a number of individual viewers.
Fish out of water: Sudeikis, formerly of Saturday Night Live, stars as the title character, a college-level American football coach who’s hired to coach an English soccer team, despite knowing hardly anything about the sport; seen July 15 in West Hollywood
Apple also hasn’t been willing to share the number of accounts that have signed up for Apple TV+ since its debut on November 1, 2019.
The service isn’t alone, as many streamers don’t release hard data on their viewership.
Instead, they cherrypick which data to release, though the lack of specifics makes it impossible to effectively compare the popularity of services.
The evolution in Apple TV+’s competitor Netflix illustrates the difficulty in making conclusion from streaming viewership figures.
As Wired pointed out last year, when Netflix announced that its 2018 horror film had been viewed by 80 million people, it was requiring people to watch at least 70 percent of the film to count to ward that total.
But starting last year, Netflix now only requires viewers to watch two minutes of a show or film before counting toward those figures.
Upbeat: Apple says that more accounts streamed the premiere episode both on Friday, July 23 than had watched any other content in the service’s history. It also said viewership for the show increased six times over the first season
However, Apple hasn’t said what it counts as watching the show, nor how many individuals watched. Netflix, for example, only requires someone to watch a show for two minutes before counting as a viewer
Apple TV+ hasn’t clarified who counts as a viewer of the Ted Lasso premiere, so it’s impossible to know if the service might be including people who checked out the series for a few minutes before tuning out.
Apple also claimed that Ted Lasso had ‘increased its viewership by 6x over season one,’ though there’s no way to verify that or even to know if the company is using the same metrics to compare viewership.
The streamer also say it increased its number of new viewers by 50 percent — a record — over the weekend.
Apple added that the second season premiere increased viewership for the first season, as many new viewers may have decided to start from the beginning after hearing buzz from other viewers or seeing the mostly positive reviews from critics.
Other Apple TV+ original comedies also saw their viewership rise around the same time as the Ted Lasso season premiere, though the service didn’t saw how many more viewers those shows attracted.
Surprise guest: Jason was shocked on Thursday to see a surprise video message on Today from his high school basketball coach Donny Campbell, who inspired his hit character Ted Lasso
Last week, Sudeikis was shocked during an appearance on Today when host Hoda Kotb revealed that his high school basketball coach, who partly inspired his role, had recorded a short video message for him.
The comic actor shared that he got some of Ted Lasso’s mannerisms (and his mustache) from his father, but his coach Donny Campbell inspired much of the character’s dialogue.
‘My high school basketball coach, Donny Campbell,’ he continued. ‘It was a fellow from a small town in Kansas who spoke in those little aphorisms. You know, “Sudeikis, you look more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs!”‘
Blown away: His jaw dropped open when he saw Campbell’s message. ”Hi Jason, this is Coach Campbell of Kansas City. Just a short reach-out telling you how proud we are of you with your success you’re having with the show Ted Lasso,’ he said
But then Jason’s jaw dropped open as she composed herself and revealed that Donny had taped a short video for his former student.
‘Hi Jason, this is Coach Campbell of Kansas City. Just a short reach-out telling you how proud we are of you with your success you’re having with the show Ted Lasso,’ he began.
‘We need to get you back in Kansas City and we need to play some one-on-one, because I know you can’t play a lick of defense,’ he concluded on a joking note.
After the clip, Jason looked a bit misty-eyed, though he was quick on his feet with a humorous example of how his coach would tease him.
‘He would call me “Jason Sueikis” because he said I had no “D,”‘ he recalled. ‘He’s clever that way.’
After the clip, Jason looked a bit misty-eyed, but he recalled that Campbell ‘would call me “Jason Sueikis” because he said I had no “D.” He’s clever that way’
[ad_2]
