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How does a TV show make money?
Where does the money come from? It's easy to say that a show or network makes money when people watch it, but that doesn't answer my question. Who writes out the check, so to speak? Does it come from the general public...is there some tax we don't know about lol? Or maybe it comes from the sponsors? I know that a show might say before a commercial break, "this show was brought to you by...".....so does that mean that the sponsors pay for air time? I'm really confused here.
19 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
There are a few ways. First of all, PBS shows are paid for by underwriting, which is a company pays to be the sponsor. This is not advertising and there are strict rules about what they can and cannot say. Basically, they can only mention their names, but not discuss their product or services. Yes, some of your taxes do go to Public Television.
However, you are most likely asking about commercial television. Usually (but not always), a network pays the production studios to make the show. As others have said, a lot of money comes in to the network or station from advertising dollars. In some cases, they don't pay much if anything, and instead share advertising profit with the show's producers. Ratings measure how many people are watching. Companies pay television networks and stations for commercial time. The TV sales people negotiate the price and usually guarantee so many viewers. For example, Company A buys a 30 second commercial, and the network guarantees that at least "X" million people are exposed to that spot. Obviously the greater the rating, the more money they can charge. Sales reps usually work on a "cost per thousand [viewers]" basis. This is sometimes broken down to specific demographics. Ad buyers can specify which shows they want to be in, but may have to pay more if a certain show is regarded as higher quality or has some other positive intangible. (Think Superbowl commercials).
With all that said, the biggest way a show makes money is in SYNDICATION. When a program is deemed successful, it is shopped around to the networks and or TV stations individually, and the rights to air reruns are sold. The nets or stations pay a specific amount to air the reruns (ind in return still get the profit from advertising). There are a lot of technicalities here such as at the amount of times it can be shown, which time slot, whether the deal is exclusive, etc. Syndications typically occurs after the show has aired about 100 episodes or 3 complete seasons, however with so many cable networks out there, a lot of programs are being syndicated early. Therefore you may have one network airing originals still in production, but another network airing the reruns.
But if you think through all this, then yes, it is the public paying for programs. Companies won't buy advertising unless they see their sales increasing. They pay for advertising with their profits from selling us all their products and services.
Source(s): I used to work in TV research and sales. - How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
A show such as "Ugly Betty" charges a channel like "E4" to put there show onto TV. Then E4 would get money from peoples TV lisence, Completions etc..i think.
- 1 decade ago
Commercial TV. There's your answer, from commercials. PBS gets its money from grants and from endless pledge breaks.
- Anonymous5 years ago
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it's all based on sponsors. Where the views come into play is the more viewers your channel and your shows have, the more high dollar sponsors are going to want to sponsor the channel and advertise on it
- 1 decade ago
Indirectly out of your pocket when you support the sponsors (advertisers) of the shows. They write the checks for the time slots they purchased for their commercials during the shows. So indirectly every time you support one of those sponsors by purchasing their products, you are paying for the television you watch!
- 1 decade ago
alot of money comes from commercials, businesses pay to have their commercials aired at certain times such as prime time. that money goes to the network.