Commentary

Traditional TV's Big Money Makers Not Done - And I Have A Video Game To Sell You

For all the money you think big TV broadcast networks make -- nothing compares to big and special one-time, one-day TV events to pull in the really big dollars.

Think about boxing: The Floyd Mayweather/Saul "Canelo" Alvarez pulled in $150 million -- setting a new record for a pay per view event. The previous record was set in 2007 also featuring Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya. It took in $136 million.

Showtime Networks, owned by traditional TV company CBS Corp., aired the most recent fight. Some 2.2 million “buys” were made. Surely a $64.99 price tag made some home-viewing boxing aficionados cram their living rooms around the country with friends. Talk about your revenue efficiency per viewer!  

By way of comparison, CBS in airing any Super Bowl (or that of any network) now takes in around $250 million in national advertising for the big game. (Throw in another $50 million in advertising from pre-game programming.)
And for those that think way outside the box -- in terms of other “screen” entertainment -- you could go and talk to publisher Rockstar Games about video game “Grand Theft Auto V.” By way of comparison the revenue pulled in from the first day of sale for the video game would dwarf the Mayweather-Alvarez fight and the Super Bowl.

“Grand Theft Auto V” registered an eye-popping $800 million in revenue -- in a single day! This breaks the $500 million record set last November with “Call of Duty: Ops II.”

Now, traditional TV executives point out that ongoing multiseason TV program series carry the day for media companies. CBS Corp. can tell you about its “billion” dollar franchises that exist around the globe -- which include “NCIS” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

But if we have learned anything from the new digital video world it's that old and new entertainment vehicles continue to make big bucks for big media/entertainment companies, as well.

If that isn’t enough, there is still money to be made doing first-run syndicated television apparently. (Welcome back, Arsenio!) Others are doing well buying and selling TV stations.

So don’t count out anything just yet -- even new digital TV-video and other new media entertainment vie for your time. Perhaps an old-style TV variety show is destined to give one hopeful producer the wherewithal to buy a glittery mansion in Beverly Hills with a hot tub

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