how do tv shows make money

How Do TV Shows Make Money? Simple but Effective ways!

As the availability and innovation of the machine, television grew, this course of entertainment has transformed into a commercial industry. But how do TV shows make money is still a mystery to most of their audience?

So today we are here to know the approaches that the people associated with the television industry implement to make money.

But before diving deeper into the ways of how do TV shows make money, let us take a glimpse of some points about the Television Industry.

Television Industry And Different TV Genres

The television industry has transformed the way we used to consume media completely. As in the early days when there were no TVs, people either used to visit the cinema hall to watch their favorite movies or bought a projector to watch them at home which used to be very costly at that time.

But after the launch of Television in India on 15th September 1959, with the help of UNESCO, it became a popular mass medium to circulate news, information, entertainment along with motion pictures and sound. Since then, the television industry has witnessed a huge change over with the advancement in technology and time to get more innovative and automated mass media in the form of TV.

Let’s go to the next section in knowing how do TV shows make money and see how many different types of TV shows are there.

The different types of shows that are disseminated over television are as follow:

  1. Sports: These programs feature different sports and their events like the Football League, Match of the day, Sunday Night Football, Super Bowl, etc.
  2. Sitcom: These programs show an entertaining TV series about fictional characters and are also known as situation comedy. The name of some situational comedy shows is The Office, How I Met Your Mom, The Big Bang Theory, Friends, etc. 
  3. Documentary: These are the programs that document real-life events. For example- Horizon, Panorama, Timewatch, Life on Earth, etc.
  4. Daily Soap: These programs show fictional dramas about a person’s day to day life, and are also called Soap Opera. Some of the daily soap shows are Coronation Street, The Bold and The Beautiful, Eastenders, All My Children, etc.
  5. Cartoon: These are the programs that feature animated characters like The Simpsons, SpongeBob, Peppa Pig, Family Guy, American Dad, etc.
  6. Travel or Holiday: These programs show travel reviews of well-known and beautiful holiday destinations. Some of the shows associated with such programs are Wish You Were Here, The Travel Show, Great Continental Railway Journeys, etc.
  7. Kids/Children: These programs are specifically telecasted for children. They include shows like Blue Peter, Hannah Montana, Doctor Who, Sesame Street, etc.
  8. Drama: The programs that feature actors through fictional TV stories. For example, Downton Abbey, Game Of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Homeland, The Walking Dead, etc.
  9. Makeover: These are the programs that help people change their mindset or lifestyle. For example, The Biggest Loser, Extreme Makeover, You Are What You Eat, etc.
  10. News: Programs that show events happening around the world. Example: CNN Newsroom, BBC News, 60 Minutes, The Daily Shows, etc.
  11. Cookery: In these shows, the legendary chefs teach their cookery talent to the people and share their recipes. The MasterChef, The Great British Bake Off, so on are examples of such shows.
  12. Reality-TV: Programs featuring real people talent, like India’s Got Talent, Bigg Boss, etc.

And So on. This list is pretty long. So we will move to the next section of our journey to know how do tv shows make money.

How Do TV Shows Make Money?

As of now, we know about the television industry and different types of television shows, now let’s move toward the ways how do TV shows make money. Here are some of the approaches:

how do tv shows make money - Ways

By Subscription Of Streaming Model Of Television

As television models evolved gradually with the advancement in technology, the commercial enterprise model of television has been modified spontaneously to the subscription model of streaming networks. So in this subscription streaming model, consumers need to buy subscriptions based on the content streaming provider’s offer. 

By Providing Commercial Slots To Advertisers

Some of the TV channels are free for its users. Such television shows provide commercial slots in exchange for money to advertisers to advertise their products based on demographics and ranking. In some new types of integrated advertising and marketing practices such as Product, Placement-sell merchandise, they publish their products secretly through conversation or appearances. 

By Revenue Generated from Daily Soaps Program

Nowadays where most of the people are at home, these Daily soap serials have become tonic for the elders and children who usually do not have much work at home. Also as time is progressing, these shows are changing into commercial prospects more than entertainment aspects. TV show makers are minting money by creating content that hypnotizes the audience by making addiction toward these shows.

By Adding Previews Of TV Shows On YouTube Channel

As everyone knows, YouTube is one of the most popular and commonly used video-sharing websites that attracts millions of viewers per minute. And for buying and sharing copyrighted videos of channels as their exclusive channel’s footage, collaborated partners of YouTube pay money to the channels and also need to verify those videos before uploading them online. The money paid by YouTube collaborated partners serves as a source of income for the producer of that program. 

By Voting Your Favorite Reality Shows Contestants

In many Reality-shows like dancing, singing, cooking, or any adventure shows, the TV screen asks viewers to vote for their favorite contestant to save them from elimination by sending an SMS or giving a missed call on the given number. The Producers always provide private telecom services for voting purposes, which charges Rs. 3-4 per message or call. So apart from saving contestants it also becomes a means of earning for the producers.

TV Shows Making Money By Online Television

Nowadays, Online Television has set a new borderland of viewing television. Online television’s budgets are normally more restrained, producers have advance control over the programs, and also there is no such thing as syndication like those are in offline television. Episodes published once on Online television remain there eternally. And the revenue made from it is a combination of subscription, marketing, and sponsorship.

Wrapping Up

While reading about how do TV shows make money, we saw how the Television Industry has changed our way of consuming media completely after the launch of television in India on 15th September 1959 with the help of UNESCO. Before the introduction of television, people either used to go to cinema halls to view their favorite shows or buy projectors for viewing them at home.

As technology advances, more innovative TV models are produced which transforms the commercial enterprise model of TV into a subscription streaming model.

Some of the television genres that are disseminated over the television are Sports, Sitcom, Documentary, Daily Soap, Cartoon, Travel and Holiday, Kids/Children’s, Drama, Makeover, News, Cookery, Reality-TV, Talk Show or Chat Show, Shopping, Game-Show, Music, Lifestyle, Gardening Show, DIY, WildLife, etc.

Some of the practices on how do TV shows make money are briefed-below:

  • By Subscription Streaming Model of Television
  • By Providing Commercial Slots to Advertisers
  • By the Revenue Generated from Daily soaps Programs
  • By Adding Previews Of TV Shows On YouTube Channel
  • By Voting Your Favorite Reality Shows Contestants
  • TV Shows Making Money By Online Television

Hope you got some idea about the different approaches to how do TV shows make money.

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Hi, I'm Rashmi - a Software Developer. Currently pursuing MCA through the Distance Learning Program at Sastra University.
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