On the second day of the "Friends" ratings celebration party, Murdoch couldn't wait to use News Corporation's media to release the news that Firefly would become a shareholder of Fox Television Network. He also said that not only "Friends" would continue to be broadcast on Fox Television, but both parties There will also be closer cooperation.
As soon as the news came out, most of the media who were originally pessimistic about whether Fox could keep "Friends" under the coveted eyes of the three major TV stations immediately changed their attitudes by 180 degrees, and they all began to express their optimism about the development prospects of the Fox TV network.
Not to mention that Murdoch revealed that Firefly will cooperate more closely with the Fox TV network. Only relying on the Fox TV network to keep the hit TV series "Friends", as long as Fox can seize the opportunity and produce If more sophisticated TV programs are used to cultivate a loyal audience, then its fourth position in the North American TV industry will be unbreakable, and even after several years of painstaking development, it is not impossible to surpass the original three major TV stations. Affected by this good news, the market value of the Fox TV network, which was originally less than one billion US dollars, rose rapidly.
The transfer of shares in the TV network cannot be completed overnight. After the Fox TV network released the news, not only did the three major TV stations not give up robbing "Friends", but contact with Eric became more frequent.
■♀, among them, because of the merger with the Metropolitan Broadcasting Company in 1985, abc, which had been losing money for several years and was most eager to turn around, finally even offered a condition for becoming a shareholder. However, Tom Murphy, the CEO of abc TV, had to When it comes to the 3% share transfer authorization of the board of directors, although the value of this 3% share is more than twice that of Fox TV's 10% share, Eric is not at all excited. Because of the 3% stake. Judging from the history of abc losing money until it was acquired by Disney. In the next few years, it is impossible to receive any dividends, but it will consume a large amount of funds of Firefly. Moreover, it is impossible for Eric to have much say in this 3% stake. Therefore, between the thriving fox and the muddy abc, as long as the IQ is a little normal, everyone knows what choice to make.
On the evening of September 10th, under the laughter of the audience of "Friends" and the close attention of other TV companies, "Friends" ushered in the second week of broadcasting. Two hours later, Nielsen immediately released the ratings statistics. The average viewership of the third and fourth episodes of "Friends" was 24.6 million, and the highest viewership still reached 29 million.
Seeing this data, the three major TV stations also began to analyze the success factors of "Friends", and finally found that, apart from the humorous plot and lines, the reason why this TV series was able to get the first broadcast's super high ratings was that The important thing is that the first two episodes were directed by Eric himself. Of course, there may have been film directors who switched to TV drama production in the past, but it must be when the career of those film directors has been underestimated and there is really no way. In the midst of his fame, no film director would "self-defeating" to make a TV series. Therefore, Eric, who had achieved great success in his previous films, directed the TV series himself. This gimmick aroused strong curiosity among the audience. What kind of TV show is coming. The quality of "Friends" itself has also met the audience's expectations, so combined, this sitcom is now popular.
Knowing this, the three major TV stations began to shoot almost at the same time. For a while, Steven Spielberg, Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton and other Hollywood directors received High-priced invitations, the three major TV stations even offered to pay millions of dollars as long as they could get a name on some episodes.
Under the powerful money offensive, although most directors refused due to various scruples, it is not that no one tried, and the results were very good. The ratings of some American dramas with the names of Hollywood directors exceeded the ratings expectations. Therefore, in the next few years, inviting well-known film directors to direct the first one or two episodes of American dramas quickly formed a trend. When an American TV series starts airing, if there is no well-known Hollywood director in the publicity, the audience will subconsciously feel that the quality of this TV series is not high, and the ratings will not be so good accordingly.
Of course, these are things that happened later.
After the broadcast of "Friends" in the second week, those who cared found that the news about "Friends" had almost completely disappeared on TV programs other than Fox TV. People seem to have never heard of "Friends".
Obviously, this is an expression of the three major TV stations for Eric's continuous refusal of their solicitation.
But this kind of "blocking" has not caused any harm to "Friends". Don't forget that behind Fox TV is News Corporation, which can promote this TV series from print media to TV media. Although the three major TV stations control most of the TV media in North America, they are still pure TV networks and have not been annexed by media groups, so they have very little involvement in newspapers and magazines. Newspapers and magazines also played a major role in the word-of-mouth communication of a TV series in this era.
Although Fox's competitors did not forget to publish some attacks on "Friends" in the newspapers they could influence, such as criticizing "Friends" for having too many adult topics to be broadcast on public television, they did not what big impact. Because the more important newspapers have maintained a positive attitude towards "Friends".
Eric is sitting in his office right now reading a story about Friends in the Los Angeles Times.
"According to Nielsen data analysts, the second week of "Friends" has eliminated about 70% of the unstable viewers. In the end, the average viewership of this sitcom will remain at around 22 million. TV series ratings king.
According to sources, the average advertising revenue per episode of "Friends" has reached 3 million US dollars, so the TV series will bring in more than 70 million US dollars in revenue. Although we have no way of knowing the specific sharing plan between Firefly and Fox TV, but with Eric Williams' always strong style, the advertising sharing of "Friends" will definitely reach the highest level in the industry. Based on this calculation, this TV series The first run on Fox alone could bring in nearly $30 million for Firefly.
What is even more surprising is that the copyright of "Friends" is exclusively owned by Firefly. Then, the subsequent transfer of broadcasting rights and videotape distribution of this sitcom will bring more than three times the revenue of the first round of broadcast advertising. The total investment of the sitcom is less than 5 million US dollars. Eric Williams, the "bad boy" who stirs up troubles in Hollywood, has proved to the world that he can not only shine in movies, but also in the field of TV dramas .
When conceiving this article, the author has been wondering whether Eric Williams will extend his tentacles to the field of music next, because in several films he directed, the soundtrack column obviously hangs Eric Williams Williams' name, "Silent Love" during the bus encounter in "Dark War", I don't know how many movie fans are fascinated, the picture of Tom Cruise and Brooke Shields cuddling each other Also because of the background of this soundtrack, it was called the most beautiful movie shot of this year by the media. The CEOs of major record companies, look at the three major TV stations that are in a state of embarrassment now, and learn from the past, why don't they invite Eric Williams first before others make moves? "
After reading the "Los Angeles Times" article, Eric thought about it for a moment. When he was filming "Pretty Woman", because he remembered the famous pop band Roxet's combination of a song, Eric had the idea of training singers to join in. plans for the recording industry. The 1990s was the last glorious era of the world's record industry. As long as a record company has a few well-known singers, its profits are no less than that of film companies or TV stations. Even if the record industry declines completely due to the rise of the Internet age, the copyright of songs owned by record companies is still a huge fortune that can bring long-term income in the West, where intellectual property protection is very strict.
Writing and drawing a few strokes on the memo beside him, Eric was about to read the next newspaper when there was a knock on the office door: "Mr. Williams, Miss Murdoch is here."
Eric responded casually, and Elizabeth Murdoch, who was wearing a blue and white light-colored plaid shirt, dark jeans, and a dark blue lady's bag, rushed in and sat down opposite Eric. Next, she still looked carefree, it seemed that Eric's forced kiss that night hadn't affected her at all.
Taking off her satchel and putting it on her knees, Elizabeth glanced at the headline of the "Los Angeles Times" in front of Eric, and curled her lips in disdain: "I never thought you would be so narcissistic that you secretly hid in the office to watch others brag about you. your essay."
Eric didn't care about the sarcasm in the girl's tone. If he was just a film director, he could of course keep his ears to himself and just make the film well. But he is also the chairman of a film company, and it is necessary to keep enough attention on industry news. Because he was too busy during this time, Eric could only ask his assistant to sort out some important news for him, and read some in a hurry before coming to the company every day to deal with affairs. (To be continued..)