• by October 2, 2000

By Anya Khait

NBC's Thursday night line-up remains the most expensive piece of prime-time real-estate, reports this week's Advertising Age in its Annual Primetime Pricing Survey.

The winner? ER's price of $620,000 per 30-second ad spot is an all time high, making it the most expensive series ever. Ad Age reports that the Big 3 networks did a remarkable job of increasing their prime-time unit costs compared to last fall's season. The average 30-second spot on one of the networks for the first time is approaching $200,000: ABC's average is up 17.2% to $193,409; CBS's average is up 16.1% to $190,114; and NBC's average is up 16.2% to $198,864. In addition, the average spot on Fox rose 5.7% to $150,310.

According to the Ad Age survey, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" emerges as the most lucrative individual programming franchise ever on Network TV - a show that didn't exist on ABC's schedule last fall.

Although "Millionaire" did not make the 10 most expensive shows on network TV, it represents 25% of ABC's prime-time advertising revenue. At an average price of $271,000 per 30-second spot, it is 40% more expensive than the average prime-time unit on ABC.

TOP TEN (11 with a tie) Most Expensive Primetime Shows (per 30-second spots) 1. NBC's ER: $620,000 2. NBC's Friends: $540,000 3. NBC's Will & Grace: $480,000 4. NBC's Just Shoot Me: $465,000 5. CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond: $460,000 6. NBC's Cursed: $410,000 7. CBS's Becker: $365,000 8. ABC's Monday Night Football: $360,000 9. ABC's Drew Carey: $360,000 10. Fox's The Simpsons: $335,000 11. Fox's Ally McBeal: $335,000 TEN MOST EXPENSIVE NEW PRIMETIME SHOWS (per 30-second spots) 1. NBC's Cursed: $410,000 2. CBS's Yes Dear: $250,000 3. CBS's JAG: $220,000 4. CBC's Bette: $210,000 5. ABC's Geena: $195,00 6. Fox's Boston Public: $185,00 7. Fox's The Street: $185,000 8. ABC's Gideon's Way: $180,000 9. CBS's Welcome to New York: $180,000 10. NBC's Ed: $165,000