A high-action drama, 24 has been running for eight seasons and revolves around a sometime government agent (Kiefer Sutherland) who does whatever he has to do to defeat terrorists. The current season’s cast also includes Mary Lynn Rajskub, Anil Kapoor, Annie Wersching, Cherry Jones, Chris Diamantopoulos, Freddie Prinze Jr., Jennifer Westfeldt, John Boyd, Katee Sackhoff, and Mykelti Williamson.
Last month, FOX, the studio and the producers mutually decided to end the series at the end of this season. You would think that that would have given a boost to the ratings in the last couple weeks but it hasn’t happened.
FOX still wants to make the most of the series finale so they’re now charging really big bucks to advertisers. At last May’s advertiser upfronts, commercial time for the last episode of this season went for an estimated $200k-280k per 30 second spot.
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For those who waited, the price rose to about $500k per commercial for the season finale. However, once it was announced that 24 was ending and it would be the series finale, the price rose to $650k for 30 seconds of airtime.
As is the case with the Lost finale, advertisers are always on the look-out for television events that are likely to be watched live. In an age of DVRs, there are fewer and fewer of these opportunities available and advertisers are willing to pay big bucks for them.
Had the network announced that 24 was ending earlier in the season, the network could have likely commanded an even bigger price-tag for the ads. However, it’s suspected that FOX actually didn’t have much open airtime to play with.
The two-hour series finale of 24 is set to air on Monday, May 24th, at 8pm.
What do you think? Is advertising on the series finale of 24 worth that much? Will you watch it live or watch on delay and skip through the commercials?
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