14 DAY TRIAL // In March this year, ABC was already almost done signing contracts for ads for the grand finale of “Lost,” which aired last night, Sunday, May 23. At the time, those deals were said to be the most lucrative in recent times, which would explain why the network packed no less than 107 ads during the series finale, which lasted 2 hours and a half, as Entertainment Weekly informs.
This means that fans of the show actually had to sit through an estimated 45 minutes of commercials, the report goes on to say. In the end, though, it seems to have been worth it, as the grand finale not only managed to get a lot of the fans in front of the television set but also to get them talking about what happened with their favorite characters. Whether advertisers were on the mark paying an estimated $900,000 for a 30-second slot, we’ll see when preliminary ratings are out.
“ABC packed roughly 107 spots – or more than 45 minutes of commercial and promotional time – into the two-and-a-half-hour Lost series finale, according to our (very unscientific but pretty reliable) count. Just when the finale would unveil a major plot point, a break would occur featuring anywhere from five to 11 ads and/or sneak peeks for fall shows on ABC. Granted, some of the spots were extremely clever (Target used images of the island’s smoke monster to peddle fire detectors) but numerous, nonetheless,” EW writes with a certain tone of disappointment at the sheer number of ads crammed into the finale.
“Though it can (and will) vary depending upon the circumstance, a network typically runs anywhere from 18 to 21 spots – or roughly 9 to 10.5 minutes of commercial time – per hour to accommodate 44 minutes of content. Within the first hour of last night’s finale, it appeared that ABC squeezed in roughly 37 ads, along with seven promos for ABC and local programming. HBO got in on the fun later in the broadcast by buying a spot to promote the upcoming season of True Blood. Ad time was also gobbled up by the likes of Home Depot and the iPad,” the same report goes on to say, proving the network really went overboard with the “Lost” finale.
Making a little over $200,000 for a 30-second slot at the end of the sixth and last season, ABC pushed the envelope as the finale drew nearer, asking for as much as $950,000 – 1 million for the same slot, for ads to air during the last episode. In the end, the network and advertisers settled for a smaller amount, but the average was of $900,000 per ad, as we also reported a while back.