The Price of Fame?

So, here’s the deal: throw a heap of cash at a new TV show and voila! Instant hit, right? Wrong! Not every show that comes with a hefty price tag turns out to be a smash hit, and that’s got some execs rethinking their strategies.

Little Show, Big Buzz!

Take this month’s gathering of the TV titans at a fancy National Association of Television Program Executives panel. They found themselves chatting about the smashing success of Crave’s budget-friendly queer hockey romance series, Heated Rivalry. Adapted from Rachel Reid’s hot-and-heavy Game Changers book series, this show is so popular you’d need to be living in a cave to have missed it. Seriously, it’s everywhere!

What’s the Secret Sauce?

Bell’s VP of Content Development, Justin Stockman, claims Heated Rivalry is winning viewers over with its playful naughtiness, all while keeping things creatively spicy. ABC Entertainment’s comedy guru, Suzanna Makkos, was all about the show’s quick pacing. But Robert Schildhouse, big man at BritBox, had some juicy tea to spill.

He boldly proclaimed, “Whether it’s smut, murder, or Christmas heartthrobs, there’s little to no link between how much dough you throw at a show and how engaged viewers are. Some tiny-budget gems are bringing in crazy loyal audiences!”

The Dollar vs. Viewership Debate

Now, Schildhouse might be sitting on a mountain of secret data we don’t get to see, but we’ve got plenty of evidence pointing in his direction. Recently, several high-priced shows bombed in viewership and engagement.

Example one: let’s look at Prime Video’s big-budget fiasco, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. This shiny new series reportedly set Amazon back a staggering $465 million, plus another $250 million just to snag the rights. Guess what? Only 37% of viewers managed to stick around for the first season! And season two? It did even worse – ouch!

High Rollers Still Flopping

Then there’s Citadel, a globetrotting spy spectacle that threw $50 million per episode at Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. It’s been nearly three years, with no sign of a season two, despite a slew of smaller international spin-offs popping up.

Even Marvel isn’t immune to this curse of expensive flops. Their lavish Disney+ ventures have been hit or miss, leading to a head-scratching reevaluation behind the scenes. Take She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which cost a cool $225 million. It barely scraped its way into the top-streamed list, while Apple seems to be spending big bucks on lesser-known series like See and Foundation.

Smart Spending or Starvation?

Now, don’t get it twisted – just because some big-budget shows are crashing doesn’t mean all expensive productions are doomed. Series like Stranger Things, House of the Dragon, and The Mandalorian all required a hefty investment and have become cultural phenomena. But with low-cost shows like Heated Rivalry and The Pitt, which reportedly only costs about $4 million per episode, scoring rave reviews, the bigwigs might want to rethink just how they splurge their precious TV cash.