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Lost Finale Means Big Answers For Fans – And Big Business For ABC

By Steven James Snyder | @thesnydes | March 30, 2010 | +

In this age of DVR, Hulu and TiVO, live TV events are increasingly rare. But advertisers are betting on the fact that fans of Lost are going to be tuned in live May 23, for the much-anticipated final episode. And when we say betting, we mean betting big.

AdAge is reporting that a 30-second commercial spot during the Lost finale is costing around $900,000. That’s almost a 50 percent increase over the normal rates for a Lost episode – just shy of Oscars territory.

My first reaction to the news: What an achievement, for a series to be this popular for this long – no easy feat in an era where shows are killed after just two or three episodes (see: Joe Buck Live). But beyond that, I’m intrigued by how aggressively advertisers will line up behind almost any sure-fire live event.

Must-see-live-TV is an increasingly rare thing nowadays, and obviously companies are willing to pay a premium for access to captive viewers. Now the question for networks: How to get more people to tune in live more often?

Related Topics: ads, Advertising, finale, how to bypass tivo, Lost, Advertising

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  • Chaddogg

    Event television seems to be the way to drive live viewing, fueled in part by Twitter/Facebook and other social media that make communal, internet-based television viewing “appointment” television — you watch live so that you can participate in the community that is live-Tweeting/commenting on what goes on in the episode, etc. That’s part of the reason (as James reported) why the Super Bowl and Oscars may have faired better in the ratings this year….

    So how do you bring that over to television series?

    Well, season premieres and season/series finales tend to get the highest ratings for any show, as they are inherently stunt episodes designed to draw in viewers with special guest stars, great cliffhanger endings, or resolution to long discussed cliffhangers from the prior season/earlier episodes.

    So to maximize ratings — more premieres and season finales….which means, frankly, developing more series with shorter runs. It is precisely this model that has suceeded for cable — FX (with Justified, Damages, Sons of Anarchy, etc.) and USA (Burn Notice, White Collar, Psych) have been able to draw larger viewer audiences, in part because they have more series with shorter seasons, meaning more premieres/finales that they can promote (and which, not coincidentally, get a lot of publicity from the television media).

    Of course, shorter seasons also have other benefits — better/tighter storylines, less viewer fatigue, sometimes bigger named actors will agree to a shorter television series. But if network TV wants to see more live viewing, they should have more short series, just to increase the number of premieres and season finales….

  • http://www.thesmogger.com Michael

    This is going to be one of the biggest events of year. The fan frustration and anticipation over the past 6 years has almost reached a boiling point – and the finale is sure to produce a watershed moment in pop culture (similar to the end of THE SOPRANOS or other similar shows). All I can say is I hope it ends well for all those fans who have invested so much time for the past seasons…or we may have some riots on hand. It’s definitely going to be a huge event regardless – and I would say somewhere in the range of 25-30 million viewers? Does that sound right?

    http://thesmogger.com/2010/03/22/is-lost-lost-a-fans-confession/

  • Rorschach

    I think something that hasn’t been mentioned is the fact that people will be watching live hoping to avoid spoilers. With most shows you can watch it an hour later, or even the next day and be pretty safe. With this I guarantee you I am getting emails and text messages within minutes of its ending.

    Chaddogg that’s a pretty interesting point regarding shorter seasons/series. I hope people go with it… not to the extent that England does (six eps, two seasons is too short) but most of the best television on right now is 10-13 eps / season, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

  • Kemper

    I agree with Rorschach. The quest to watch it without spoilers is going to lead to some big live watching numbers.

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