It won't surprise anyone to find American Idol at the top of 2009's biggest TV moneymakers according to Forbes. At $8.1 million in revenue per thirty minutes, it easily topped Forbes' annual list. Two and a Half Men at number two and $3.1 million per 30 minutes probably won't surprise a lot of folks very much either.
But what about Fox's 24 at number three with $3 million? Especially in light of all the rumblings that Fox is seeking to dump the show (and perhaps pawn it off on NBC) that does seem a bit surprising. But Forbes reports in one hour in 2009 it fetched $6 million in advertising. Perhaps 2010 isn't 2009?
Grey's Anatomy and V were tied for the next spot on the list at $2.8 million.
V was surprising given that it only had 4 episode (or maybe the fact that it only had 4 episodes so fat that made it profitable especially with the big premiere ratings)
Forg, yeah, I either they got big money for the premiere or the episode after the premiere, or perhaps both.
1. American Idol – - FOX
2. 2.5 Men – - CBS
3. 24 – - FOX
4. Grey's Anatomy – - ABC
5. V – - ABC
6. Desperate Housewives – - ABC
7. Dancing with the Stars – - ABC
8. Lost – - ABC
9. Survivor – - CBS
10. CSI – - CBS
An0m: I deleted your message. I want people to click over to our friends at Forbes who actually did the hard work to create the list. Thx.
My bad.
So why would Fox cancel 24 unless they see ad prices decreasing due to the drop in ratings for 24?
Katie_Kat, perhaps it costs 4 or 5 million per episode to make and they are interested in opening up some room for the next hit.
Or perhaps they are just creating a PR storm that will have NBC salivating to pay big money for it!
It's interesting – I think that it shows how ratings can often be a little misleading – I mean who knows if 24 will be renewed but yeah, well actually it's probably 24's 18-34M ratings that make it – which we don't get to see on a regular basis.
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Flashforward and V being on the list doesn't surprise me. Most of the ad buys are done before the premiere, and both of those shows had a lot of buzz. I'm betting ABC is giving a lot of make-goods on FF.
This was gross revenue per 30 minutes, not net profit…
So, if an episode of Lost makes $5 million and its budget is $4 million… am I missing anything?
Makes sense completely. But just a question, as demos are sososos important, why does a show such as 24 make more than a show like NCIS which does better in the demo or is this where other demo factors come into play(gender, income, etc.) along with longevity of the show?
We'd have to probably compare 18-34 and M18-34 where 24 may have fared better last year. And unfortunately we don't have the data in any format that makes such comparisons easy. Also 24 has a boatload of product placement and NCIS doesn't, though I am not sure if/how that factored into the gross results.
Would be nice is they actually published the dang chart. Then we'd see how the 18-49 demo ratings really match up from 2009 AND how a series' longevity affects it one way or the other.
Holly raises the big point: Is Forbes' math simply based on ad rates, or those rates – cost of makegoods? Speaking of the former, there's a vague mention that the scatter market price reductions haven't hit V yet, but they wouldn't have hit FF, 24, etc. yet much either.
So the article is really, “If shows granted the audience their nets promised, here's what they would earn.”
I'm sure it's merely gross ad revenue.
Looking forward to V's return…
I don't mind that they are canceling 24. I just wish they would end it correctly with a proper season finale like many other long-running shows would go. They should have decided before the season that it would the last so the writers could end the series. I hate when they abruptly end a good series without a good ending because of course after 8 seasons its ratings diminish.
24 seasons never end abruptly, they always wrap up the season. Before the season because before the season they didn't know the ratings would be what they are. If it was averaging a 3.5, we're probably not talking about FOX canceling 24.