In the Battle for the Best Library: Netflix Acquired Global Streaming Rights to Seinfeld, How Much Did the Creators Take Home?
It has been a little over two decades since the sitcom Seinfeld last graced our televisions but people still long to watch the antics of four intertwined friends in New York City. It’s not entirely questionable because it was one of the defining series of the ‘90s and which became an iconic show, along with Friends and The Office. It is interesting how its target market has extended into the younger generations – millennials are also not exempted.
Iconic Shows
Because of the high demand for shows from way back, it is only logical to bring back the legendary shows. At this high time of streaming service platforms, you don’t have to wait for the shows every night at a certain time slot. With just a click, you can binge-watch your favorite series in one seating and you can do this over and over again – as long as you have a subscription, of course.
The latest to be transported to a platform is Seinfeld, which started in 1989 and starred Jerry Seinfeld (as his fictionalized self), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine Benes), Michael Richards (Kramer), and Jason Alexander (George Costanza), that is heading to streaming giant Netflix in 2021. The deal allegedly cost north of $500 million!
NBC Universal reportedly paid the same amount for cult classic The Office, while WarnerMedia acquired streaming rights to Friends for a whopping $425 million.
It is worth noting that NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia’s deals were limited to the United States, whereas Netflix’s acquisition of Seinfeld entails global streaming. The 181 episodes are still streaming in the now Disney-owned Hulu, which acquired the comedy in 2015 via a six-year deal that costs $130 million.
Lucrative Deal
People sometimes dub Seinfeld as the show about nothing but proved to be lucrative for its stars, especially the lead actor and creator Jerry. That’s why the recent Netflix deal is also expected to shower him some serious cash as well as his co-creator Larry David. To begin with, each of them has 15-percent ownership of the backend equity points, or two times their initial 7.5 percent.
This means that Jerry and Larry each has a $75-million pay from the deal. For the actor, this will add to his total earnings from the show of $60 million and $875 million in DVD merchandise. In short, this just made the comedian a lot richer.
Losing Friends and The Office
The amount speaks a lot about how aggressive the companies can be just to add fan-favorite shows and films in their library. It’s the race nowadays between streamers as viewers subscribe to those that offer the most number of quality pictures and projects. To think that these shows don’t bring new episodes nor will these bring fresh ones, the eye-popping amounts are, plain as day, outrageous.
Although Netflix has a lot of impressive shows and films in its library, losing Friends and The Office to other companies became an issue. Thankfully, its acquisition of Seinfeld will help viewers stay on the platform.
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