$$$ and Cents

From an old post of mine over at ChuckTV trying to explain the dollar figures that go into TV shows. If the post reads a little bit funny, it's because I did a quick copy and paste. Too lazy to edit it =P

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It all depends if NBC is making money off Chuck. NBC paid for the show cheaper this year with essentially the same ratings it got last year. Given that everything else on NBC is down (except Biggest Loser), Chuck is one of their "bright" spots. Chuck is, as of now, their highest rated hour-long program. That won't last because SVU will be moved back to where it should be (10pm) and Parenthood will get an awesome lead-in from the BL.

In terms of cost, here's a rough chart of what shows are getting per 30 second ad spots:

http://adage.com/article?article_id=139923#mon

For NBC, Heroes is definitely not getting that much per 30 sec. ad. In fact, none of the NBC shows are getting those rates because of their crappy ratings except BL and The Office. Time for some rough estimates and math. For every show, there's roughly 36 spots, and say about 8 of those spots are given to local affiliates. Since Chuck is not on the chart, lets say Chuck gets around $85,000 per spot. NBC gets roughly $2.38 million per episode. Now, the question is: How much did NBC pay for the show per episode? Anything below the $2.38 million NBC obviously makes money. And we don't know how much Subway put into the show, so that probably will drive the license fee down a tiny bit more. Another question is if WB makes any money off the show (likely not), but lets keep it simple.

Another question to ask: Can NBC put anything into Chuck's time-slot that will do better? The answer is most likely no. Heroes was getting roughly what Chuck is getting now in the fall, but that show is way more expensive to produce.

It's important to remember that this is NBC. Jeff Gaspin has mentioned numerous times that he wants to "improve" ratings, and not necessarily beat other shows. He wants to see improvement. Slow and steady growth in ratings, eventually you'll be able to beat the big guys. Chuck has held steady compared to last year, and when all of NBC is down, Chuck certainly looks good for NBC.