Simon could roughly tell where the first episode was playing just by hearing some faint sounds. He didn't follow Jerry Hall and couldn't see clearly through the crowd. He just smelled the good smell of the woman next to him. Said: "These players are sponsored by Tinker Bayer. According to the cost price, 5,000 iPlayers only cost more than one million US dollars. If this amount of money can be used to exchange for a TV show with 30 million viewers, I think how much Everyone in the major TV stations is willing to keep doing this.”
Jerry Hall is also involved in the television industry now, and he will understand it after a little thought.
Indeed.
For a TV show with 30 million viewers, according to the current advertising quotation of TV networks, 30 seconds is estimated to cost 500,000. A one-hour reality show, with the usual 43 minutes of content and 17 minutes of advertising, this is 17 million US dollars. According to Calculating 23 issues in a single season, the advertising revenue alone reached 390 million US dollars.
"Fashion Workshop", which is produced and hosted by Jerry Hall, does not take into account syndicate income, and its single-season advertising revenue is not even one-tenth of 39 million.
This is the gap.
Thinking in his mind, Jerry Hall asked curiously: "The cost of this reality show should be very high, right?"
Simon smiled and shook his head: "Business secret."
Jerry Hold suddenly rolled his eyes at the man again.
It's not too secret actually.
It's just that Simon didn't bother to explain too much to the woman, because the cost of the first season of "American Idol" was not fixed.
In the project planning stage, in order to avoid risks as much as possible, this reality show has set up two production plans, one is a stop-loss plan in case the project fails or the response is mediocre, and the other is an expansion plan after the ratings are successful.
Simon never felt that he would be 100% successful. For "American Idol", he did not hesitate to try his best, but at the same time, he also prepared for the worst.
Because the production cost of this reality show is indeed high compared to other TV shows of this era.
According to the stop-loss plan, the production cost of one episode of "American Idol" reached 7 million US dollars. "ER Story", which was just launched some time ago, is also a feature-length series and the cost is not low, but it is only 650 million US dollars. US$10,000, although "Emergency Room Story" has only about 20 million viewers, as a TV series, there will be substantial syndicated income in the future, and it may not be outdated even after more than ten or twenty years. Reality shows are time-sensitive and have a very low replay rate.
Therefore, even if the average number of viewers of "American Idol" reaches 10 million, other series can be renewed, but this reality show must be cancelled.
According to the stop-loss plan, if the number of people who start broadcasting does not reach more than 15 million, "American Idol" will only produce one season, with a total of 18 episodes, 8 in the first year and 10 in the next year, and then it will end without follow-up.
There are 18 issues in a single season. Based on an issue of US$7 million, the total production cost is US$120 million.
If the number of viewers exceeds 15 million, a second expansion plan will be implemented. Starting from the second week of the broadcast, two episodes will be broadcast every week. The total length of the first season will also reach 32 episodes because of the simultaneous filming and broadcasting mode. , the material shot every week is split from one phase into two phases, and the cost is naturally diluted. It is expected that the production budget of each phase will be reduced to about 5 million.
There are 32 issues in a single season. Based on an issue of US$5 million, the total production cost is US$160 million.
These details can't be explained clearly to the woman around you in a few words.
Now, the number of viewers has reached 30 million since the launch, and the second expansion plan of 32 episodes in a single season will definitely be chosen.
Whether it is 120 million or 160 million, this era is considered a blockbuster level for TV projects. When Daenerys produced "Survivor", the grassroots team continued to reduce costs, and the total budget of the first phase of production was only 5 million US dollars. , which is a huge savings. Unfortunately, this kind of thing seems to have happened a long time ago, when the $25 million "Rain Man" was already a big production.
In fact, it’s only been 7 years.
It's just that they are already two eras.
Hollywood in the 1990s was just like Simon remembered the era of the explosion of China's film and television industry after 2010. Capital poured in, stars' salaries skyrocketed, and production costs skyrocketed. After the Internet bubble burst in 2000, Hollywood returned to rationality.
Simon and Jerry Hall hid in a corner and chatted for a while, then got up and continued socializing for half an hour before leaving the reception early.
Overnight at Hall's apartment in Greenwich.
Get up at six o'clock in the morning.
The tired woman from last night was still lying on the bed. Simon washed up alone and got dressed and left the master bedroom. The spacious flat apartment seemed very quiet. He walked through the long corridor to the living room, but there were already people busy in advance. , not only the waiter and guard arranged next to Jerry Hall, but also the other two Wei family waitresses. During the greeting process, they said that Ms. Davis asked them to come over.
Several other servants in the apartment had been sent away on temporary leave.
Simon didn't think that the housekeeper would make her own decisions, even if it was to serve him. It was more likely that it was Lady A's order, but she had no intention of going into details.
There is a gym in the apartment, but I didn't plan to exercise this morning.
Sitting by the window in the living room, reading the newspaper, drinking coffee, and enjoying the autumn scenery of Manhattan.
It’s not easy to see autumn in the city, but it actually depends on the location.
There are two rows of sycamores planted on the street outside the apartment chosen by Jerry Hall. At the end of September, the sycamore leaves are red and yellow. Looking from the sixth floor, it looks like a strange ribbon, which reflects the age of Greenwich Village. The various old apartments here have a special sense of nostalgia, which reminds people of the passage of time.
So he didn't even want to pay attention to the newspaper in front of him.
After asking a waitress for a few questions, the other party quickly brought an iPlayer and said softly that if Simon had any songs he wanted to listen to, she could download them now. The waitress came a little closer when she spoke, and the young girl's pleasant body fragrance wafted faintly. Simon smiled and pointed to his feet. The waitress was very smart. She knelt down at the coffee table in front of her and quietly helped the man refill his drink. coffee, and then lowered his head and pretended to sort out the scattered newspapers on the coffee table.
Simon put on the iPlayer headphones, selected from the list, found a song called "Young and Beautiful", and pressed the single loop button on the fuselage interface.
Some classics are indeed suitable to be repeated as singles at certain times.
In the early morning of autumn, the mottled streets shaded by sycamore trees outside the window, coffee, music, and the fragrance of women.
Probably because God doesn't want to see some people sink into perfect situations, the song in the headphones had just been cycled two or three times when another slender figure appeared at the exit of the corridor at one end of the living room. This was an eleven or twelve-year-old boy. The girl has red hair, fair skin, and big eyes. She wears a midriff-baring vest and short hot pants, revealing two chopstick-like long legs inherited from her mother.
Seeing Simon, the girl was not surprised at all. She even sneaked over, reached out her little hand and took out one of the earphones from Simon's ear and put it into her own ear. She leaned her slender body against the back of the single sofa where Simon was and listened for a moment. Some people teased: "Simon, you must be very narcissistic, you are actually listening to your own song."
Simon also noticed the girl approaching after one of his earphones was taken away, but there was no reaction. Hearing what the little girl said, he smiled and said, "What does it mean that your father sings his own songs all day long?"
"My dad..." The girl wanted to retort, but was stuck as soon as she started. She gave up on herself and said, "You are all narcissists."
The little girl said, turned to the side of Simon's sofa near the window, squatted down on the armrest, and glanced at the Wei family maid who was still kneeling submissively by the coffee table. These were not two of their family, but the girl was very smart. Knowing the identity of the other party, for some reason, he felt a hint of threat, so he pretended to be very dissatisfied and said to Simon: "You were really rude last night, making my mother so loud."
Simon had just picked up the coffee and brought it to his mouth. He almost spit out a mouthful of coffee when he heard this, and quickly calmed down to avoid choking.
The waitress next to the coffee table also lowered her head slightly, probably to hide her smile.
After calming down, Simon gestured to the waitress next to him: "Go prepare breakfast and tell them to add another one."
When the little girl saw the waitress getting up, she reminded: "There are four people in our family."
The waitress glanced at Simon and saw that her boss ignored him and ignored him, so she turned and left.
When the little girl saw that both of them were ignoring her, she puffed up her cheeks and simply stood up and walked to the single sofa opposite the coffee table, sitting on it cross-legged in an awkward manner.
Simon had no intention of talking to the little girl. He put on his headphones again, listened to music, drank coffee, and looked out the window.
The little girl and Simon confronted each other for a moment, and finally spoke first: "My name is Elizabeth, you can call me Liz."
Simon responded casually: "Yes."
The little girl paused, raised her voice slightly and repeated: "It's Elizabeth Jagger."
"Um."
"Simon, you are so cold."
"Um."
"This will be very unpopular with girls."
"Um."
"I would tell my classmates that Simon Westeros is actually an arrogant, cold, and, well, lecherous bastard."
"Um."
"Don't think that my mother likes you just because you are rich."
"Um."
"Simon, I have taken a fancy to a Hermès bag, can you buy it for me?"
"Hmm... don't buy it."
"How stingy." The girl curled her lips when she saw that Simon finally stopped humming, but she still didn't give up: "You are my mother's lover, and you are also my stepfather. You should buy it for me."
"You still have to ask your biological father for this kind of thing."
"My dad is even more stingy," the girl said, then slightly widened her eyes: "Did you want me to call you dad before you sold it to me?"
"yes."
"dad."
"purchase!"
The little girl tried her best to hide her excitement and immediately said: "Dad, can you let me borrow your private jet? I want to take my friends to Miami on the weekend and learn to surf by the way. Cynthia always shows off in front of me. She is surfing. By the way, we also need a coach, someone who is more handsome, well, he can be half as handsome as dad."
“…”
"Dad~~Dad~~"
"Stop, your mother needs to agree to this."
"Mom will definitely agree."
As the little girl spoke, she jumped up from the sofa with a grin on her face, stepped across the coffee table with her bare feet, threw herself into Simon's arms and kissed him hard on the face. She said she was going to catch up on her sleep before disappearing again. .
Really.
Girl, where is your moral integrity
It's so obvious.
Simon leaned on the sofa, and the old god pondered for a moment, and made up his mind that if his son dared to act like a spoiled child in the future, he would give him a good beating first.
Daughter.
Um.
Still need to be rich.
But think about it, Seattle probably won't be so coquettish with him. Little Snow, with the style of raising children like a female assistant, will most likely become a lady.
That's good.
After all, Simon was alone at breakfast.
It was just after seven o'clock in the morning when I left Jerry Hall's apartment.
Today is Wednesday.
Yesterday it was announced that the merger had passed federal review, and today's work schedule is still full.
Arrive early at Daenerys TV headquarters, also in Greenwich.
Sitting in her office here, I didn't see relevant data from the newspaper in the morning, so Girl A sent me more detailed ratings data for the first episode of "American Idol" last night.
After starting with 34.7 million viewers, the number of viewers of "American Idol" did not fall back, but continued to rise, once reaching a high of 41.9 million. According to the final statistics of the two 86-minute simulcast episodes, the average number of viewers reached 37.2 million. The ratings of the core audience aged 18 to 49, which advertisers are most concerned about, reached 20.7, directly carving up more than one-fifth of the market share.
Due to the rise of cable TV, the current market share of public television networks has dropped from more than 90% at its peak before the 1980s to about 60%. This is also the main reason why established television networks have chosen to sell. Now, "American Idol" has directly taken away one-fifth of the market share from other public television networks and cable TV networks, so it can be seen how powerful this reality show is.
As a key autumn project jointly created by Daenerys and Metropolis ABC, the advertising of "American Idol" is not sold in a package, but adopts a bidding strategy for each issue.
Due to lack of evidence, the first two consecutive broadcasts only sold 300,000 US dollars for 30 seconds of advertising.
This is already comparable to "Survivor", which also had over 30 million viewers. However, it is no longer 1988. The production costs of the entertainment industry have increased significantly, and advertising prices have also risen. A quote of 300,000 for 30 seconds is only equivalent to 20 million. viewership standards.
Customers who bought last night's ad slot clearly got a big advantage.
Now, the average number of viewers is 37.2 million, which means that starting from the next episode, a 30-second advertisement of "American Idol" will be able to sell more than 500,000. At the highly anticipated moment such as the finals or semi-finals, the price of a 30-second advertisement will reach 100 Thousands of dollars is not impossible.
The statistics given by the TV department are 32 issues in the first season. The average price of a 30-second advertisement will be around US$600,000, which means a total advertising revenue of US$650 million.
And it’s only the commercial breaks that make the money.
There are also in-show title sponsors like Tinker Bayer.
Various peripherals.
The player's tour income after the season.
It’s not as good as the revenue from syndicated broadcasts of hit TV series, but it definitely shouldn’t be underestimated.
and, overseas copyright sales.
Think about it in my memory, FOX spent 75 million US dollars to buy the TV rights of "American Idol" from the British copyright owner. This time it was sold from the United States. 75 million US dollars was not reached. 7.5 million US dollars is not a big problem. The UK, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Spain, Australia and other countries were sold one by one, and the little they accumulated made up a lot.
All of this adds up to little more than the revenue from mid-roll ads.
Compared with many TV series whose production costs are still less than 50 million US dollars, "American Idol", which has a budget of over 100 million regardless of its success or failure in the planning stage, undoubtedly requires Daenerys Entertainment to take a lot of risks, so it has prepared an additional Stop loss plan. Now, it is only expected that US$650 million in commercial breaks will be made. No one will think that the investment of hundreds of millions of US dollars in this project is a waste of money.