NBC is asking $425,000 for a 30-second spot during the "ER" finale, reports B&C. The medical drama has been on air for 15 years; the last episode airs April 2 and features old cast members, including George Clooney. According to TNS Media Intelligence, each broadcast of "ER" nets NBC $2,878,000. Media buyers say the show is selling for between $425,000 and $500,000.
via MediaPost
They have reason to believe it will pull 50M + viewers. I think they’re crazy.
25-30 million is a reaonable number considering Cloony, Margolise and Wiley are guest-staring in the episode. If they would’ve brought Stringfield, La-sall and Edwards (even as a ghost a le Denny) it would’ve been perfect.
Oh and I wish they do what Homicide did with the dead characters.
If it pulls 25M viewers, $425K for the commercials will be a deal. I’d be surprised NBC thinks it will pull 50 million viewers who will watch even at least six minutes, unless it talked Clooney into some partial nudity.
i think 20m max! maybe 22m ish
I dunno it is the big finale even if I left Desperate Housewives (which I never will) i would still tune into to see the final episode. Almost like an honourary send off.
So all the 30mil fans from before would tune in: i would have thought so.
I’d be surprised as more than 20M. ER’s better days are far behind it and while I’ve continued watching I’ve been less committed than in previous. It’s usually DVR’d and then watched days later. Finale’s used to draw huge numbers, even for series that stayed long past their time, but I don’t think enough people care about ER any longer. We’ll see, I guess. I know I’ll be watching.
If ER ended 10 years ago, they’d be pulling massive, 50m + viewers.
But now it’s past prime, in the ratings gutter, and will be lucky to even get 20m.
20 million viewers for ER?! Besides something of the reality flavor: Olympics, Super Bowl, etc. Has NBC had 20 million viewers all season?? What do they think: that people who defected from the show years ago are going to magically show up for the finale?? Wow, they need a reality check.
jessy: If ER had ended 10 years ago it would’ve been in it’s sixth season when it was still averaging 30 million per episode, it would’ve reached Seinfeld’s numbers with Cloony.
The only way this is getting 50 million viewers is if Clooney shows up with the entire cast of Ocean’s 11 and they hatch a plot to steal money from the hospital.
I would watch that.
If NBC really thinks 50 mil is realistic, they’ve been hitting the pineapple express pretty hard. I agree that about half that is realistic. This isn’t Friends. This isn’t Seinfeld. ER isn’t leaving when it was still culturally relevant, like those two shows did.
I haven’t watched a full episode of ER in 6 or 7 years. But (even if I’ll be lost) I’ll definitely tune in for the finale. So 25 mil plus 25 other like me and NBC has their 50 mil. Yeah Right!!
20 MIL? it gets like 4-5 MIL an episode. I think 9 MIL at most.
It’s barely averaging 7.5 million. To expect it to triple the audience for the big guest star finale when it has been having big guest stars all season long, and no one even giving it a second thought, is a far reaching notion. But hey if they can coax 425,000 out of advetisers for 30 sec. commercials for the finale then that’s some niffty financial wizardry on their part. Kudos!!
ER averages more than 4-5 mill an episode, lol. it averages like 8-9 mill per episode. So matt, u r wrong. I believe the ER finale will get anywhere from 25-30 million viewers, but 50 is definitly crazy! NO WAY!
20 Million???? R u kidding me!
A regular episode of this last season cant even pull 10 million viewers.
Will & Grace penultimate episode had a 6.2% HH and then jumped to a 11.6% HH. I can see ER jumping like that (maybe 25 million)
cool, that’s not even doubling, so let’s say that ER doubles its audience. Its current audience is less than 7.5 mil. Double that and they have 15 mil. Let’s even be generous and go with the beginning of the season when it was getting closer to 9 mil. That’s still only 18 mil and no where near 25.
Honestly, I would think NBC should be grateful if ER can get 12 mil and 4.0 in the demo for its finale.
Yeah, but the regular audience sixteen years ago 30-35 million, which means that that audience does exist. It’s just like Marty said (“I haven’t watched a full episode of ER in 6 or 7 years. But … I’ll definitely tune in for the finale”). I might even watch it and I have never seen a full episode of ‘ER’, but I recognize that this is the end of what is (was?) a cultural phenomenon. Not many shows can call themselves that. What can that is currently on television? I would say ‘The Simpsons’, ‘Law & Order’, ‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’, ’24′, ‘Survivor’, ‘Lost’, ‘American Idol’, ‘Desperate Housewives’, ‘Family Guy’, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘House’ and ‘Heroes’, so not a lot and those last few are a bit sketchy.
NBC could heavily promote for a month that it was literally and explicitly going to show George Clooney’s and Julianne Margulies butts and I’m not even sure that would result in an average audience of 25 million. Without the butts, even 15 million seems like a stretch.