Post by George WK Newman on Aug 4, 2009 8:26:45 GMT -5
This is not an area that I know a ton about so I will be making a lot of assumptions.
The airing of second run movies has long been a staple of television. Since the VCR days however the impact of a first show of movies has gone down, and now the market is saturated with VOD, Netflix, internet downloads, and many movie channels.
However, because of the strength of the affiliates the airing of movies still gives networks a rare opportunity to make a little cash off a spot, pretty much guaranteed.
There is a take and give between the movie's distributor and the network. While some airings, such as the first airing of a major blockbuster on network TV, may be very high priced and therefore a break even or loss leader to produce ratings, in general movies will be sold at a price that makes sense to the network.
The newer the movie, the less often shown on TV, and its success at the box office will determine most of the rating a movie will get on TV. The higher the rating, not only the more the distributor will likely charge for a movie, but also the higer their charge compared to revenue.
For example, if a two hour showing of a recent blockbuster is expected to bring in an audience of 5.0 and collect say $4 million in ad revenue, the cost for that movie (and often some exclusivity) could be as much as $3-5 million. The film's distributor might have to weigh offers from rival networks who can get higher ratings, or a rival network who wants to air it on Thursday night instead of your slower Friday night spot.
On the other hand, if you decide to air a cash cow of a movie, like a 90's hit movie that still pays off on each airing, you may be able to get a two airing network exclusive contract for say $1 million, and it may only produce a 1.2 rating but that could translate into $2.5 million in ad revenue.
There are a ton of other factors involved. The more you advertise your movies the better they will do. The more consistent you are with when you air movies and the type of movies offered the better they will do. Do you stretch a movie to 2 1/2 hours or edit it down to 2 hours? Obviously all the normal stuff, what your competitors are airing, timeslot, lead in, etc come to bare on the rating and ad revenue.
When deciding to bid on a movie, I will get Skip Canada to research what kind of ratings and revenue projections you are looking at for that suggested airing time and date. I will look to see what kind of future airing dates the movies have, who the distributor is, etc, to make a decision on whether the movie should be made available.
Due to contracts and license requirements a 30 day window is normally required to obtain a movie. When the airing date arrives I will look at several factors to determine what the actual rating is compared to what was expected. For the most part however the rating will not vary drastically from projections, and the actual rating will likely not impact your ad revenue.
The airing of movies on the one hand produces a much needed profit for the network, but does very little for the long term needs of the network. The network is bringing the purchasing power of its national network of affiliates to the table to make this profit.
Once again to succeed in airing movies its important to have some sort of plan and consistency. You also should be looking at increasing your profit margins by making multiple movie deals with one distributor or looking for synergies with our corporate partners.
The airing of second run movies has long been a staple of television. Since the VCR days however the impact of a first show of movies has gone down, and now the market is saturated with VOD, Netflix, internet downloads, and many movie channels.
However, because of the strength of the affiliates the airing of movies still gives networks a rare opportunity to make a little cash off a spot, pretty much guaranteed.
There is a take and give between the movie's distributor and the network. While some airings, such as the first airing of a major blockbuster on network TV, may be very high priced and therefore a break even or loss leader to produce ratings, in general movies will be sold at a price that makes sense to the network.
The newer the movie, the less often shown on TV, and its success at the box office will determine most of the rating a movie will get on TV. The higher the rating, not only the more the distributor will likely charge for a movie, but also the higer their charge compared to revenue.
For example, if a two hour showing of a recent blockbuster is expected to bring in an audience of 5.0 and collect say $4 million in ad revenue, the cost for that movie (and often some exclusivity) could be as much as $3-5 million. The film's distributor might have to weigh offers from rival networks who can get higher ratings, or a rival network who wants to air it on Thursday night instead of your slower Friday night spot.
On the other hand, if you decide to air a cash cow of a movie, like a 90's hit movie that still pays off on each airing, you may be able to get a two airing network exclusive contract for say $1 million, and it may only produce a 1.2 rating but that could translate into $2.5 million in ad revenue.
There are a ton of other factors involved. The more you advertise your movies the better they will do. The more consistent you are with when you air movies and the type of movies offered the better they will do. Do you stretch a movie to 2 1/2 hours or edit it down to 2 hours? Obviously all the normal stuff, what your competitors are airing, timeslot, lead in, etc come to bare on the rating and ad revenue.
When deciding to bid on a movie, I will get Skip Canada to research what kind of ratings and revenue projections you are looking at for that suggested airing time and date. I will look to see what kind of future airing dates the movies have, who the distributor is, etc, to make a decision on whether the movie should be made available.
Due to contracts and license requirements a 30 day window is normally required to obtain a movie. When the airing date arrives I will look at several factors to determine what the actual rating is compared to what was expected. For the most part however the rating will not vary drastically from projections, and the actual rating will likely not impact your ad revenue.
The airing of movies on the one hand produces a much needed profit for the network, but does very little for the long term needs of the network. The network is bringing the purchasing power of its national network of affiliates to the table to make this profit.
Once again to succeed in airing movies its important to have some sort of plan and consistency. You also should be looking at increasing your profit margins by making multiple movie deals with one distributor or looking for synergies with our corporate partners.