AdAge.com reports that, already a cultural and ratings success, The Osbournes is now a smash hit for MTV's advertising department.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Viacom network show has broached a $100,000 mark for a 30-second spot -- a pricing record for a regular non-sports cable series, according to media executives. The previous title was claimed by Comedy Central's South Park, which approached the $80,000 to $90,000 level in the late 1990s, according to media executives.
ESPN's Sunday Night Football has been regularly inking deals in the $125,000 to $135,000 unit price range. But beyond sports, no regular cable series price had reached $100,000 until Ozzy Osbourne and his family hit prime time.
The Osbournes didn't start out with a big payday. Before the show launched, lucky advertisers secured ad time for $10,000 to $15,000 per 30-second commercial. When ratings began to climb, advertisers raced to buy time and pricing shot up.
At an average of $40,000 per 30-second spot, MTV could have nabbed $9.6 million in advertising sales for the series that aired at 10:30 p.m. ET. The family was paid about $200,000 for the entire 10-episode run.
For the week ending May 5, The Osbournes season finale was the highest-rated cable series of the week, posting a Nielsen Media Research 3.8 rating, and reaching 4.1 million households.