The final episode of Season 2 of “Luxe Listings Sydney” dropped on Prime Video today replete with prestige, property and a whole lot of personalities.
Streaming giants such as Amazon’s Prime Video are reluctant to release their streaming numbers, but Tyler Bern, head of content for the company in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, insists the local show has been a hit locally and proved promising globally.
“‘Luxe Listings’ is a massive success,” he told Variety Australia. “I know we don’t disclose our viewership metrics, but I can tell you that it’s one of our top performers, not just out of our Australian shows, but out of our global shows too, because it really did kind of capture people’s attention and captured this kind of social zeitgeist.”
“Luxe Listings Sydney’s” ability to ‘capture the zeitgeist’ was also cited by Chris Culvenor, EP for the show and CEO of its production company Eureka.
“So there’s the traditional, just straight viewer [metric] that we have, but also I think there’s a certain buzz that some shows have where they become sort of part of the zeitgeist, they become part of the news cycle. So I think that’s a really great way to gauge success, and certainly “Luxe Listings” has ticked both those metrics success which has been huge, but also we really feel like it has cut through as well from that news cycle and social media engagement [perspective] as well,” he told Variety Australia.
Because of this, Prime Video’s Bern said the show was good at recruiting new users to the platform as well as engaging existing subscribers. The draw card, according to Bern, is everyone’s addiction to property.
“In particular in Australia, and definitely in Sydney, there’s such a fascination, an obsession, with real estate and with property. So it really took off because of this love of real estate, this true passion that people in Sydney and people in Australia have with all things property.”
Plus, he said, the show brings high glam, drama and luxury – addictive draw cards the audience can’t resist.
These factors are also what makes the show suited to Prime Video, Bern said.
“We’re always looking for the next big show. We want to, particularly from an unscripted perspective, we’re really interested in guilty pleasure programming. So we want those shows that have a large degree of talkability. You’re having an ‘edge of your seat’ moment to figure out what’s going to happen in the next episode, you’ve marked on your calendar when “Luxe Listings” Season 2 is coming. It’s premium and it does drive social conversation, which is what we’re trying to do.”
Culvenor agrees that property, prestige (and a bit of stickybeaking) bring people to the show, but it’s also the characters which keep viewers watching, he said.
“I think there’s a number of factors. I think the incredible real estate and the window into these lives of the rich and famous is just so fascinating and so compelling to watch. I personally just find it addictive to watch these incredible houses that normally I wouldn’t necessarily get an invitation to. So I think that’s part of it.
“And then I think the really compelling characters. Gavin [Rubinstein], D’Leanne [Lewis], Simon [Cohen] and Monika [Tu] are just so captivating to watch. They’re so good at what they do, they’re so passionate about what they do. And those rivalries are so authentic as well.
“So I think that is the thing that really resonates with the audience. Like these are people who are top of their game.”
The docu-soap drama in Australia is only growing, he added, but “Luxe Listings Sydney” has taken the format and added a premium lens and premium execution to it.
Prime Video is now looking at taking the “Luxe Listings” brand and format and rolling it out “all over the world”, Bern said, but more locally Culvenor also believes the format has plenty more life left to live.
“I know it’s cliche to say, but one of the top topics in most Australian cities is the price of property, and what people are doing in property, so it’s certainly a national pastime and a national fascination,” the Eureka CEO said.
“So if the audience is going to tire of property shows, I don’t think it’s going to happen any time soon.”