What People Watch

On May 3rd the third series of Clarkson’s Farm aired on Amazon Prime. With Amazon a Barb licensee since March this year, subscribers were able to see data for the show the next day.

Since we also have Amazon data from November 2021, we can use this to see how series 2 performed, and extrapolate from that to series 3.

The buzz about series 3 has been building and recent data shows a sense of the anticipation: in the last few weeks viewing of earlier series has risen sharply.

 Considering the top ten pure-play VOD programmes of 2023 gives us a good idea why. In a chart otherwise dominated by Netflix, it is topped by the first episode of series 2. The series would go on to reach 7.6m individuals over 28-days from release at the start of October. 

Netflix dominated the top 10, but Amazon took the crown for most watched pure-play VOD programme of 2023

Source: Barb. Based on 7 days viewing from first release only. Viewing to TV set. Highest occurrence per title.

But compared to previous series, the latest Clarkson’s Farm is more than just a numbers game. The introduction of ad tiers from the main pure-play VOD services gives advertisers and agencies an extra reason to understand these audiences, especially for Amazon where most subscribers now reside in the ad tier.

Anticipation inspires (re)watching of previous series

One of the patterns Barb data shows us is that viewers reacquaint themselves with a series just before a new release by watching old episodes.

Take series 2 of Clarkson’s Farm: viewing of series 1 was 80% higher in the two weeks before release than in the two weeks before that. A similar pattern is visible for series 3. Viewing to series 1 and 2 in the week to April 25th is almost four times higher than for the 14 days before that.

Advertisers and their agencies who have slots planned for series 3 will find this reassuring as it suggests audience interest remains strong.

Who you’re buying matters too

Advertisers are as keen to know the make-up of the audiences they’re buying as they are the numbers. Barb panel data provides this information for VOD and broadcast output.

By and large, data from previous series is a good indicator of audience demography. With Channel 4’s Taskmaster, for example, the audience to the latest series (17) is very close to that for series 16. As such, if an advertiser wanted an ABC1 audience with an even gender split, they could be reasonably confident that Taskmaster would do the job.

Chart 1: Channel 4’s Taskmaster has a remarkably consistent profile

Source: Barb. Series 16: September 21^st – November 23^rd 2023. Series 17 (first 4 episodes): March 28^th – April 24^th 2024.

But this audience demographic consistency doesn’t just apply to long-running series like Taskmaster. Even on just one episode, the profile for series 2 of the BBC’s Blue Lights is close to that for series 1. Nor does service type affect this pattern: series 2 and 3 of Netflix’s After Life show demographic consistency.

Advertisers and their agencies need to be confident in the data they use to make their buying decisions. Barb data, not just in measuring audience size, but also composition, is compiled in such a way as to give its users that confidence.

On that basis, I have no doubt that, come the end of May, we’ll see series 3 of Clarkson’s Farm delivering audiences that look remarkably similar to those for series 2 and amount to considerably more than diddly squat.

Chart 2: Clarkson’s Farm series 2 provided an appealing audience for advertisers

Source: Barb. February 10^th – March 9^th 2023.

Doug Whelpdale is Head of Insight at Barb.