The revenue stream for television shows is, of course, advertising. Advertisers pay broadcasters to show their ads during a program, and the broadcaster recoups that money from the network and then pays it to the production company that makes the show.

The amount each advertiser pays depends on several factors. First and foremost is how many viewers are watching at any given moment. They also consider things like the demographics of the audience — what age range they fall into, what gender they are — and the type of programming they are watching (for example, live sports versus scripted drama).

If a network knows that an upcoming episode of The Walking Dead will have a lot of viewers, they might charge more than usual for their commercial time during that episode. If there’s no reason to expect many people will tune in, they may lower their price.

Last modified: October 28, 2022