Seinfeld ran for 9 seasons totally 180 30 minutes episodes. While the show was a huge sucess when it was on aire, it has since earned an unprecedented $3.1bn in repeat fees. Earning the shows creators, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David hundreds of millions of dollars. While other cast members such as Jason Alexander, Michael Richards and Julia Louis-Dreyfus
missed out on syndication rights. But they do earn a portion of the
revenues from sales of Seinfeld DVDs, a demand they held out for in
contract negotiations for the series’ ninth and final season.
The Seinfeld syndication deal represents one of the biggest in television history. With each half hour episode earning an average $17 million. This means Seinfeld has made more in re run fees than the revenue of video game company Electronic Arts, by more then $1bn. Jerry Seinfeld turned down a $5 million an episode offer to continue the
show, which topped the ratings in its final season. The finale,
broadcast in May 1998, was watched by 76 million US viewers.
Posts
