[quote name=\'MizzouRah!\' post=\'208273\' date=\'Feb 16 2009, 07:11 AM\']
Okay, I want to jump back a day or so and pick up on the PiR budget question. Back in the day, each 30 second spot was for a product, such as laundry detergent, carpet cleaner, etc.. Of course, this was 30 years ago when the wife was supposed to be at home doing the chores and watching TV. Nowadays the majority of their ad revenue is Li'l Rascal Scooters and Wilford's Beetis monitors. These are usually 60-120 second spots. Obviously these companies aren't paying a fortune for multiple long running spots. So my question...Where does TPiR come up w/ the budget for the show? Start w/ Drew's salary, then work down the ladder, then include actual daily production costs. I'm asking this as someone who doesn't know all the inner workings in the game show trade, so maybe I'm missing something. Just looks like a very tight budget to be working w/ these days.
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The last time we counted them up there were thirty 30-second avails in TPIR. The last figures I heard from our friend the Perfesser were that they were going for $8,000 to $10,000 each. That's $240,000 per day, assuming the show is sold out. Let's be conservative and cut the rate and allow for decreased ratings and less than 100% sales. Let's say it's half, or $120,000 per day. That's $600,000 per week, or $30,000,000 per year in round numbers. Subtract $8,000,000 for Drew's salary. Let's make an educated guess that the show costs $250,000 per week to produce exclusive of prizes, BUT, they only produce (or are budgeted to produce) 39 weeks per year, so let's say production costs come to $10,000,000 per year. Anyone want to hazard a guess as to the weekly prize budget? That's going to depend on how many prizes are won and actually kept by contestants. Shall we say $100,000 per week? That's $5,000,000 per year in round numbers. So now we're looking at, per year:
Advertising revenue: $30,000,000
Drew's salary: $8,000,000
Production costs (39 weeks, exclusive of prizes): $10,000,000
Prizes: $5,000,000
That leaves $7,000,000 per year for Fremantle and CBS to divide, and that's assuming only 50% of the avails are sold. If we use more optimistic sales of 75% of avails being sold, that's $45 million per year in sales:
Advertising revenue: $45,000,000
Drew's salary: $8,000,000
Production costs (39 weeks, exclusive of prizes): $10,000,000
Prizes: $5,000,000
That's $15,000,000 per year more for Fremantle and CBS to divide; however, I'm guessing the Fremantle license fee is fixed, so the bulk of the money for increased ad sales would go to CBS.
You can't just look at ratings, shares and demos to determine the success of a show. There is a whole economic landscape you have to look at dealing with how much ad revenue comes in and how much it costs to produce the show.
There is a heapin' helpin' of guesswork in these figures, too, as everyone involved is tight-lipped about the actual numbers.
By way of reference, take an unspectacular game show from the days of old, say Body Language. An educated guess is that Tom Kennedy was making around $3,000 to $5,000 per week, or $156,000 to $260,000 per year, and he was taping 52 weeks per year to Drew's 39. This is why I say Drew is way, way, beyond the pale overpaid. Adjusting for inflation, $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 per year would be a more realistic salary for that position, considering it is a one-hour show.
