5 Reasons Why Ted Lasso Isn't Popular in UK Despite Being a Hit in US
Ted Lasso is a huge hit in the US but has failed to capture UK audiences.
Seeing as it’s based in the UK and focuses on the Premier League (of which UK fans are rightly proud) what’s prevented it from grabbing fans on both sides of the Atlantic?
Here are 5 reasons why Brits don’t watch Ted Lasso:
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They don’t really know about it – Sure, most people in the UK (particularly those who make up the show’s target demographic) will have heard of Ted Lasso. But TV is a saturated market. And if Apple isn't going to push it hard enough as a must-see show, it’s going to bypass viewers who’ll be tempted by adverts that are on billboards, TV, their smartphone and everywhere else they look.
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Apple TV hasn’t yet taken off in the UK – Just 8.7% of UK homes that have streaming services are using Apple TV. That’s 1.69 million households. Which may sound like a lot until you compare it with Amazon Prime Video which has 13.12 million and Netflix with 17.15 million. Plus, both Disney+ and Paramount+ are available on a deal through a Sky TV subscription.
So, even with a decent ad campaign, Apple will need to wrestle a considerable amount of business from their rivals – especially while the cost-of-living crisis continues.
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Some say it’s too ‘American’ – US sitcoms remain popular in the UK, but maybe this one feels a bit like they’re encroaching on a UK national pastime. Certainly, the show has been described as ‘cheesy’ and ‘like a kids show’.
And we Brits can be quite snobbish when it comes to comparing our TV to shows from other countries! Just don’t judge us for Last of the Summer Wine…or Coronation Street…I could go on…
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They’re not ready for channel packages – All of the above can be summed up by the fact that channel packages are still not really the norm in Britain. Sky TV was hugely controversial when it first landed. Then Netflix took off but wasn’t really seen as a bona fide TV channel like BBC1 or ITV. Which makes tackling the issues above quite hard.
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The population of Richmond is just 196,000 – Ted Lasso is a manager of AFC Richmond. While the club is fictional, Richmond is a real part of London. Ted lives in the area and frequents a local pub. And those scenes are filmed in Richmond.
Some other scenes are shot just up the road in Twickenham (more famous for Rugby). As a result, the show is quite popular in that part of the world. But its population alone won’t make it the success Apple would want the show to be.