‘Ted Lasso’ Premiere Delivers Historic Viewership Totals; Can Apple TV+ Leverage Hit for More Growth?
AFC Richmond may be a fictional team, but the popularity of “Ted Lasso” is very real. It’s so popular that the show’s star and co-creator Jason Sudeikis and other members of the cast met with President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden on Monday to discuss the importance of mental health.
Now, thanks to TV technology, insights, and analytics company Samba TV, we have some news figures to back up just how popular the show is.
Samba reported that 870,000 households watched the Season 3 premiere of “Ted Lasso” during the live-plus-four-day window on Apple TV+ last week. This is a 60% increase from the Season 2 premiere, which attracted 546,000 households.
“Audiences clearly ‘believe’ in the magic of the feel-good Ted Lasso series, with the third season opener scoring the most-watched premiere for any Apple TV+ original series in the past year,” Samba SVP Dallas Lawrence said. “Even better news for Apple is that AFC Richmond fans in the U.S. not only helped drive the streamer’s biggest premiere of the year, but also blew past season two’s numbers by more than 50%.”
Despite the positive numbers, these figures are only a piece of the puzzle in determining how popular the series truly is. Even though Apple doesn’t release viewership data on its series or movies, the show has certainly helped the streamer get more subscribers. However, the company reported that the Season 2 premiere weekend in July 2021 has the largest in the streamer's history to that point and was six times bigger than the Season 1 premiere.
Ted Lasso
Ted Lasso, an American football coach, moves to England when he’s hired to manage a soccer team—despite having no experience. With cynical players and a doubtful town, will he get them to see the Ted Lasso Way?
In addition to viewership data, Apple also does not disclose its subscriber totals, but Barrons reported last summer that Apple TV+ may have anywhere between 20 million and 40 million paying subscribers; these numbers make Apple TV+ one of the smaller premium streaming services. By comparison, at the end of 2022, Netflix reported 231 million subscribers worldwide, while Disney+ reported 162 million global subscribers. Despite being a smaller streaming service, Apple TV+ has been at the forefront of awards shows, with “Ted Lasso” winning back-to-back Emmys.
“While notching these [viewership] wins is certainly a good sign, the real opportunity for Apple is to leverage the show’s fans into streamers of other content before they cycle out of their subscriptions,” said Lawrence. “Jason Sudeikis and team have done an admirable job putting fans in the stands, but many leave immediately after watching the show.”
Lawrence argues that Apple TV+ needs to harness the popularity of “Ted Lasso” — especially if Season 3 proves to be the final one — in order to get audiences further engaged with other content. With the Season 1 finale of “Shrinking” — co-created by “Ted Lasso” star Brett Goldstein and the show’s co-creator Bill Lawrence — airing this week, it is somewhat surprising that there hasn’t been more of a push to get viewers invested in the new show while on the platform to check back in with the new season of “Ted Lasso.”
“In the second half of 2022, Ted Lasso was the most-watched show on Apple TV+ by audiences that watched only one program on the platform,” Samba’s Lawrence said. “Large single-season viewership, plus big increases in year-over-year new viewers, and a deepening engagement across a wider selection of content on the platform, are the real hattrick Apple needs, or I suppose in this case ‘believes’, Lasso can deliver.”
Apple TV+
Apple TV+ is a subscription video streaming service for $9.99 a month that includes high-quality original shows and movies including Best Picture winner “CODA,” popular sitcom “Ted Lasso,” and dramas like “The Morning Show” and “Severance.” Apple TV+ is also home to MLB baseball games on Friday nights and MLS Season Pass.