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Netflix is set to launch the entire “Seinfeld” library, giving fans of the beloved NBC sitcom a chance to frenzy watch it and renew their love for the series that made Jerry Seinfeld one of the biggest names in TV comedy.
At its peak, “Seinfeld” was the most popular show on television by all measures, with nine seasons with a total of 180 episodes. The massive streaming deal to acquire the “Seinfeld” library will surely line the comedian’s pockets, which is not surprising given that the series has been doing so for several decades now.
In 1997, before the show’s final season premiered, Entertainment Weekly discussed how profitable the show was for the network. NBC is said to have earned about $ 200 million per year in gross revenue from “Seinfeld,” with ads running during the broadcast costing about $ 550,000 for a 30-second spot. The outlet reports that the show itself was made for around $ 2 million per episode or around $ 50 million per season. So, with a huge profit of $ 150 million, he had money to spend. Those costs were increased for last season, costing the network about $ 30 million more per season. However, that still means that for most of the series, it was essentially a comedic cash cow.
As a result, the cast behaved like bandits, with cast members Michael Richards, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Jason Alexander reportedly receiving hundreds of thousands of paydays. Jerry, meanwhile, is said to have signed a deal to get $ 1 million per episode (the first TV actor to earn such a high salary) in light of his production work. Proving that it literally pays to have your name on a TV show.
NO WITHDRAWAL IF ‘SEINFELD’ CAN GET A NEW STREAMING DOLLAR 500 MILLION CONTRACT
However, that doesn’t mean Jerry was making that much money per episode for all nine seasons. In fact, that $ 1 million benchmark was only for season 9. In the 5-episode first season, Celebrity Net Worth reports that the actor and comedian was only making around $ 20,000 per episode. While that’s nothing to laugh at, it’s still a long way from what he would ultimately get. For seasons 3 and 4, that number would have doubled. However, by the end of those seasons it was clear that the value that “Seinfeld” brought to the NBC table and therefore he was paid $ 100,000 per episode for seasons 4, 5 and 6, a total of 70 episodes. . Seasons 7 and 8 saw another increase to $ 500,000 once it became clear that there was no response to public demand for the sitcom. In total, the outlet reports that he made $ 60 million from his “Seinfeld” salary alone.
However, the money has not stopped flowing there.
According to a 2014 report from Vulture, the show went into syndication in 1995, meaning networks could play reruns of “Seinfeld” for a pretty dime, which they were all too eager to do. Jerry Seinfeld and co-creator Larry David are said to have shared the lion’s share of those profits at around $ 400 million a year. This money reflects not only the comedian’s work as an actor, but also the behind-the-scenes involvement he had in the series, unlike his co-stars.
In full syndication, the show is said to have made more than $ 3 billion in profits. However, not all of that money is going directly to Seinfeld’s wallet.
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Still, the comedian and actor has clearly made as much money as he would like from the series. This was made evident in 2018 when he turned down an offer from NBC to reprise his role as the lead character for a payment of $ 5 million for a revival of Peacock at a time when shows like “Roseanne” and “Will &” Grace “saw immense success with similar projects.
“The most important word in art is ‘proportion’,” Seinfeld told The New York Times at the time.
“How long? How long is this joke going to last? How many words? How many minutes? And doing well is what makes it art or what makes it mediocre,” he explained to the era.
So, although he made a lot of money with “Seinfeld”, he can be commended for putting art first. After all, even though he’s done with his “Seinfeld” character, that doesn’t mean the world is.
That’s why Netflix felt it was a safe bet to acquire the entire catalog for the series for a deal that the Hollywood Reporter said was worth around $ 500 million. This award also allows the show to broadcast overseas, while similar deals with Hulu simply allowed the streamer to broadcast “Seinfeld” domestically.
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Not only will some of that money go into Jerry Seinfeld’s pocket as well, but he continues his working relationship with the streamer, who produced his most recent stand-up special “Jerry Before Seinfeld” as well as his hit series “Comedians. In Cars Getting Coffee “.
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