Hollywood legendary director

Two days later.

Lehman went to the WB TV station and met with the director Andrew Hernandez again.

This time I came here to sign a copyright contract for the authorized trial broadcast of "Prison Break".

Is it a trial broadcast? TV stations also have to spend money to buy it.

More is to confirm the continued cooperation after the successful trial broadcast.

Generally speaking, in which TV station the TV series is piloted, the subsequent broadcasting copyright is basically blocked.

The advance payment is more like a prepaid copyright fee before the cooperation.

However, the money is not much.

The filming of the first three episodes of "Prison Break" spent a total of more than 4 million yuan. WB TV station must pay 60% to 70% equivalent compensation to the crew (industry regulations) for the money used by WB TV station for trial broadcasting. Give 2.7 million dollars.

This is regarded as the two sharing the production risk, but the producer suffers a bit more.

If the rating of the pilot broadcast reaches above the standard line.

Note that the viewership statistics of TV stations are collected by another News Corporation. The results of this statistics are rarely concealed, and there is no concealment of TV stations.

Another point is that the ratings statistics do not include all the people who watched TV stations.

Or it should be said that the most commonly used statistical interval for TV stations is called Adults18-49 (abbreviated as A18-49).

The reason why they are listed separately is that audiences in this age group have the most consumer desires, most have independent economic conditions, and are also the most favored group by advertisers.

The five major radio and television networks are all supported by large advertisers.

The amount of advertising costs determines the revenue of the drama.

Therefore, the viewing rate of A18-49 is the statistical standard of the television industry, and it is also a direct manifestation of the level of income of the series and whether it can be adopted by the television station.

For public stations where "advertising is life", the two are directly linked.

As for the cable TV station, the reference value of the above explanation is not too great.

In particular, channels such as HBO and shoutime have almost no ads, and they rely on the number of subscribers to survive.

They don't care whether it is an audience with consumer potential.

Therefore, most of these cable stations are the statistics of the total subscription data of the series, and the subsequent renewal data.

Give an example.

Take WB and HBO as a comparison.

Because the two profit models are different, WB's revenue depends on advertising costs, so for WB, the ratings are its lifeblood. Whatever the audience likes, it will broadcast what;

For HBO, its revenue depends on the audience's subscription, so its task is to do everything possible to make more excellent episodes to meet the audience's subscription needs.

As a result, HBO generally does not cut a drama easily, and it does not irrigate or lengthen a TV without restriction to destroy a drama. This is why there is a saying that HBO produced must Out boutique.

But what's interesting is that, in terms of the revenue of each TV station, it is usually the five major public platforms that pay for the platform.

In terms of pure TV network revenue, channels such as HBO and AMC may be higher than most TV stations, but in terms of turnover, it is completely incomparable.

But when it comes to profits, paid channels such as HBO are the kings.

As for the evaluation of ratings, you can roughly understand it in this way:

1. The data of A18-49 above 3.0 is a high-quality product, so renewal is absolutely worry-free;

2. A18-49 above 2.0 is qualified, the problem of renewal is not very big, but there is a certain risk of diving;

3. If it is around 1.5, the TV station should consider whether the value is worth it. If the production cost of the TV show itself is very low, it is a low-cost comedy, even if it is purchased, it will definitely be renewed. If the copyright is purchased The cost is very high, not worth it, it is very worrying.

In addition, for some specific TV stations, such as CBS, which is known as the "Elderly Channel", the programs broadcast tend to be particularly conservative.Some sensitive subjects are hardly touched, such as LGBT.

And the content lacks elements that are loved by younger audiences such as youth idols or science fiction or love, and all crime dramas and older dramas, such as "criminal psychology", "basic deduction", "Romance History of Mom and Dad" .

The A18-49 statistics of this TV station are often below 1.5, but the ratings in the United States are often as high as 3.0 or more. In short, it is very magical and different from common sense. Their TV series have their own estimates.

There is also WB, which is the bottom of the top five TV stations, and their requirements are lower than the average.

For example, the trial contract signed by Andrew Hernandez and Lehman stipulates that "Prison Break" will be renewed as long as the ratings of A18-49 exceed 1.3.

The revenue plan for the two is divided into basic licensing fees + the share of advertising costs + most of the profits of DVD distribution.

This is also the drama contract of the general TV station contract.

If the renewal is successful, the TV station will use the collected drama ratings to seek funding from various advertisers.

Under normal circumstances, there will be 7 to 10 minutes of advertisements in a 30-minute episode, and 14 to 20 minutes of advertisements in a 60-minute episode. The middle part can be used by advertisers to bid for placement.

As for the relationship between advertising and ratings, there are many factors.

Since the audience of each product is different, statistics on male and female audiences of multiple age groups are often used.

For example, if a female product wants to be advertised, it can't be implanted in a TV series with a majority of male audiences.

Under normal circumstances, there is a consensus that women are more likely to produce consumer urges than men, and among adults, relatively young people are more likely to believe in advertisements.

How to target the mass advertising crowd through programs is a test of the broadcasting departments of major television networks, and how to place advertisements also tests the vision and prospects of advertisers.

Whether it can be a win-win situation, in one thought.

As for the final DVD release, it is roughly the same as the offline release of the movie, and the copyright producer takes more than the distributor.

Therefore, in this contract, put aside the unpredictable advertising placement costs.

If the ratings steadily break through 3, Lehman can earn at least 18 million paid TV stations; break 4, at least 23 million, break 5, about 30 million... and so on.

Anyway, at its peak, "Friends", which had a steady break of 7, brought the TV station's revenue to at least 500 million yuan a year.

The production side is probably more than one billion yuan.

Damn, advertisers are really big dogs.

It is a pity that the producers generally don't get much of the advertising costs, and most of them are eaten by the TV stations. This is also the general situation in the industry.

Just like the "Prison Break" advertising contract signed by Lehman, the producer can only get less than 30%, and the conditions are still harsh.

No way, platform channels are naturally at the top of the food chain.