Streaming powerhouses shell hefty sums for classic TV shows
NEWYORK: How many hundreds of millions of dollars would you pay for reruns of Friends, the US version of The Office or The Big Bang Theory? If you are a streaming powerhouse, the answer is: quite a few.
As online video platforms jockey for position with new rivals for audience share, classic television series are commanding hefty sums.
In 2018, Netflix produced 140 original programmes, but the most-watched series was The Office, made by traditional network NBC and which ended six years ago.
According to ratings tracker Nielsen, The Office is followed by Friends and far outpaces any of the streaming giant’s own offerings.
But in 2021, Netflix will have to surrender the rights to The Office, when the show moves over to Nbcuniversal’s video platform in a deal that will cost about $500 million over five years. And from 2020, Netflix also must give up Friends, which will move over to Warnermedia’s HBO Max platform - at $425 million for five years.
Reports say HBO Max is looking to acquire the rights to both The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men for $1.5 billion.
When Netflix entered the streaming game in 2010, networks and production studios maintained a policy of using the platform as the third option after a show’s original broadcast run and a life of reruns in syndication. It was an easy way to monetise their investments. But with nearly 160 million subscribers, Netflix is now a direct threat to the television industry’s traditional power players, who are now launching their counter-attacks.
Starting in November, Apple and Disney will launch their own TV ventures. Warnermedia and Nbcuniversal will follow suit over the next year.
They’ve all spent billions of dollars to acquire and produce content that will draw in subscribers and rival Netflix’s vast offering. Disney is adopting the same strategy for Disney+, where it will show all the Marvel superhero films, Pixar animated classics and Star Wars movies. Until now, some were accessible on other platforms.
The industry changes mark a fundamental shift in the trajectories of these classic television series, whose second lives as rerun staples on cable networks and Netflix have somewhat lessened their value.