The long wait is over! Season 3 of the critically acclaimed AppleTV+ show Ted Lasso is here. Fans like us have eagerly waited for the Richmond crew to return since the season 2 finale aired in October 2021.
What began as a sketch to promote broadcasting the English Premier League on NBC has turned into a multi-season show with 40 Emmy nominations and 11 wins! We’re not sure if it’s Ted’s Midwest charm or his insatiable love of puns, but it’s safe to say the people are smitten with him.
Since January, recent conversations surrounding the show have been chiefly driven by announcements of the S3 premiere date and the subsequent trailer release. Since it aired on February 27, the trailer has received over 5.48 million views on YouTube and 1.2 million views on Twitter.
Most social media posts are on Twitter, making up 41% of the conversation, which is followed by Reddit, with 33%. When we took a closer look, we found a few interesting bits…
- One fan somewhat predicted the timing for S3 release based on when the Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream “Biscuits with the Boss” collaboration launched.
- Dedicated bakers attempted Ted’s famous buttery shortbread biscuits – here’s two of our favs:
- Baker & recipe developer, @everydaypie
- Certified culinary scientist, @jessica_gavin
- The r/TedLasso subreddit has been a hub for fans to speculate the fate of their favorite characters and relationships.
- Many are trying to predict what will become of “Nate the Great” and how his story will wrap up with this final season.
- Many are trying to predict what will become of “Nate the Great” and how his story will wrap up with this final season.
The steady stream of related conversation can also tied to how AppleTV has used social media to natively promote the show. By creating Twitter accounts for the characters and the fictionalized AFC Richmond (316K followers) and @TedLasso (+700K followers), it allows for Coach Lasso to interact with fans and the other characters in the show.
This “accessible” style of behavior is similar to how athletes and coaches behave IRL and helps build community & loyalty. We see how this approach with Ted Lasso has generated a vocal and diverse community of fans.
- As of March 14, 2023 Apple has also announced that AFC Richmond is now partnered with Nike, including a big merch collection that includes the well-loved kit seen on the show.
- During premiere week, the team’s chant of “Richmond till we die” was a branded hashtag on Twitter with the football team’s crest.
- High profile names like Billie Jean King and Patton Oswalt both posted about their excitement for the new show. Even activist Malala Yousafzai claimed to channel the optimism of Coach Lasso to hype up an English netball team.
When our intelligence team dug into the season premiere conversation, a few things stuck out…
- The release time confused some people expecting it to drop at midnight PST but the show ended up being released six hours earlier than expected.
- A visual guide to time was released, indicating a primary to the US market – where the episode aired during primetime at 9 PM ET.
- As seen in the bigram chart below, Star Wars fans immediately noticed the design similarities between Rupert’s office at West Ham and Palpatine’s throne from The Return of the Jedi.
- “Rupert fills that dark presence, taking people away, tempting them with things. It’s an absolute, precise metaphor for Nate’s decision to leave.” -Paul Cripps, Production Designer in Variety
“Mental health” can also be seen on the bigram, indicating this is a consistent theme within the show. In fact, Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, Kola Bokinni, and a few more are meeting with President Joe Biden to discuss mental health and overall well-being.
Earlier this month, Jason Sudeikis confirmed season 3 would be the last via this quote to Deadline: “This is the end of this story that we wanted to tell, that we were hoping to tell, that we loved to tell.” While this makes us all a bit sad, we’re crossing our fingers on a surprise mini movie or that Coach Lasso, Roy, and Beard makes their way to Cameo.
Until then, we’ll be tuned in every Wednesday for our motley group of footballers. #RichmondTillWeDie
Written by Sarah Johnson and Dee Nuncio