Viacom 18 shifts into Top Gear S27

Top Gear team (L to R) Chris Harris, Freddie Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness

SHOWCASE: Viacom 18 Media, a joint venture from US media giant Viacom and India’s IBN18 Broadcast, has picked up the latest season of motoring series Top Gear from BBC Studios.

The multi-platform deal with Viacom18 will make season 27 of Top Gear available to Indian viewers on Viacom 18’s English-language entertainment channel Colors Infinity.

It is the latest in a string of deals for Top Gear in Asia Pacific, with Australian broadcaster Nine Network and New Zealand’s TVNZ having picked up S27 and S28 recently.

Top Gear is the world’s longest-running motoring entertainment show and has global following across 200-plus territories, making it one of the world’s most widely watched factual TV programmes.

S27 introduces a new presenter line-up with comedian and TV presenter Paddy McGuinness and cricketing legend Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff joining car journalist Chris Harris, alongside the white-suited professional driver known as The Stig.

The new line-up was well received in the UK, with its debut series on BBC2 in June 2019 achieving an average consolidated audience of 3.8 million. The new series permiere gained an audience of more than 4.3 million, the highest in over four years.

In between series, they also filmed the Top Gear Nepal Special, which aired in December and saw the trio embark on an epic high-altitude journey from Kathmandu to the Forbidden City of Lo Manthang.

The latest deal was announced on the first day of the BBC Studios Showcase event in Liverpool.