$2 million per ad for 'Friends' finale

There's nothing more golden than the value of old "Friends" -- especially when they're about to say farewell.

The NBC television network is fetching an average $2 million per 30 seconds of commercial time for the highly anticipated May 6 finale of the 10-year-old smash hit "Friends," the most ever paid for a sitcom episode, industry experts said Tuesday. (NBC is a partner in MSNBC.)

That figure comes close to the record $2.3 million paid this year for a 30-second spot on the CBS telecast of the Super Bowl championship of the National Football League, long the Holy Grail for TV advertisers.

It also surpasses the previous banner buying spree for a comedy -- the $1.7 million averaged for NBC's "Seinfeld" swan song in 1998, which drew an estimated 76 million viewers.

What makes such broadcasts so appealing to advertisers is not only their potential to reach a huge audience but a "highly engaged audience," said Stacey Lynn Koerner, a chief analyst at the New York-based media and buying agency Initiative.

"The people that will be there, the people who really care about the show, are unlikely to tune out during commercial breaks because they don't want to miss a second of it," she told Reuters. "This is the highest of the high when you talk about buzz-worthy environments."

Intense demand among advertisers for a bigger slice of a steadily shrinking potential audience pie also is driving up prices.

Most audience projections for the "Friends" farewell -- 40 million to 50 million viewers -- fall far short of "Seinfeld's" conclusion and pale in comparison to the blockbuster tune-ins amassed for finales of NBC's "Cheers" in 1993 (80 million) and "M*A*S*H" on CBS in 1983 (106 million). The "M*A*S*H" finale still stands as the most watched U.S. telecast ever.

More money, fewer viewers
Paradoxically, the "Cheers" and "M*A*S*H" send-offs commanded far less in today's dollars than "Friends" -- about $840,000 each for a 30-second spot when adjusted for inflation, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In other words, when it comes to big-event programs, advertisers today are willing to pay much more for many fewer eyeballs. And that is precisely because mass audiences are harder to come by now than they were before the explosion of cable TV and the Internet.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

"Media consumption is so much more fragmented that the opportunities to draw a large portion of the country at a single moment are few and far between," said Tim Spengler, the top network TV buyer for Initiative.

How much the sold-out commercial time for the "Friends" finale will generate depends on the amount of advertising NBC decides to squeeze in. Based on a typical sitcom "commercial load" of eight minutes per half hour, an average ad rate of $2 million per 30-second spot would yield gross revenues of about $64 million. With networks netting 85 percent after advertising commissions and other factors, that would leave NBC with net revenues of just over $50 million.

Assuming 12 minutes of advertising per hour under the same formula would net NBC closer to $40 million.

According to the Wall Street Journal, advertisers for the "Friends" finale include insurance giant Allstate Corp., beer company Anheuser-Busch Cos., automaker General Motors Corp., computer and printer maker Hewlett-Packard and NBC's corporate parent General Electric Co..

Looking to make the most of the "Friends" farewell, NBC is concluding its 10-season run with a one-hour retrospective followed by the finale itself.

Later that night, the six co-stars -- Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer -- will appear on a special edition of NBC's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" filmed on the set of the "Friends" Central Perk cafe.

The Emmy-winning series ranks as the most-watched comedy, and the No. 5 show overall, in prime time this season, averaging nearly 20 million viewers a week, according to Nielsen Media Research.