What is syndication and why did tv shows used to pump out so many episodes trying to get it?
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TLDR: Syndication is another word for re-run, and that’s how major TV networks made their money on shows.
TV networks make money on ads, selling time on the air to run commercials. Without that revenue the network couldn’t afford to pay anyone let alone the cost of making shows. But you can’t rely 100% on original and new content, you need shows to fill time on the air.
Syndication meant re-airing the same episode of a show over and over again usually in less desirable time slots like during the day or after school.
In this way you could sell ads associated with those slots and make more money on a show that you had already paid for a long time ago. So even though you could sell a single Ad on a new episode during prime time for a lot of money, in the long run you would make far more money selling ads on re-runs of the show.
Syndicated TV shows could also be sold to other networks including foreign stations, getting even more money for the shows you created.
But to have a show available for syndication meant having at least 3 seasons worth so that you could air 5 episodes a week without repeating them for months otherwise it would get boring quick.
Even shows that did poorly would often get a 3rd or 4th lower budget season just to make sure they had enough episodes to air re-runs.
Star Trek is the quintessential example of this. When it was first aired it didn’t do particularly well and the studio fought to get a 3rd season done just to have enough episodes to put it into syndication. Star Trek didn’t become a huge hit until *after* it started being aired in the after school time slot. Unfortunately by that point all of the sets had been destroyed and they couldn’t make any more episodes, leading the short lived animated series and it’s eventual revival with the movies and new shows in the 80s.
TLDR: Syndication is another word for re-run, and that’s how major TV networks made their money on shows.
TV networks make money on ads, selling time on the air to run commercials. Without that revenue the network couldn’t afford to pay anyone let alone the cost of making shows. But you can’t rely 100% on original and new content, you need shows to fill time on the air.
Syndication meant re-airing the same episode of a show over and over again usually in less desirable time slots like during the day or after school.
In this way you could sell ads associated with those slots and make more money on a show that you had already paid for a long time ago. So even though you could sell a single Ad on a new episode during prime time for a lot of money, in the long run you would make far more money selling ads on re-runs of the show.
Syndicated TV shows could also be sold to other networks including foreign stations, getting even more money for the shows you created.
But to have a show available for syndication meant having at least 3 seasons worth so that you could air 5 episodes a week without repeating them for months otherwise it would get boring quick.
Even shows that did poorly would often get a 3rd or 4th lower budget season just to make sure they had enough episodes to air re-runs.
Star Trek is the quintessential example of this. When it was first aired it didn’t do particularly well and the studio fought to get a 3rd season done just to have enough episodes to put it into syndication. Star Trek didn’t become a huge hit until *after* it started being aired in the after school time slot. Unfortunately by that point all of the sets had been destroyed and they couldn’t make any more episodes, leading the short lived animated series and it’s eventual revival with the movies and new shows in the 80s.
Originally (1940s-late 1950s or early 1960s) TV shows were shown just for that time slot. They would perform many of them live and not record them. They’d do 2 performances—one for the east coast and then a few hours later another live performance for the west coast. They were lost to time, not having been recorded. Eventually they did start recording them (I Love Lucy was one of the first) but there wasn’t a plan to do anything with them later. Recording just made it easier to show on the west coast without having to re-perform it. And then they could do re-runs later in the year. But because they used to do all the shows live, they did a lot of shows—like 36 shows a year, as compared to modern 22 shows or less/year.
Then, in the 1960s, they found a lucrative new way to make money—they would show old TV shows on another channel. To do this they would bundle up the existing shows and sell the rights to air them. There were only 3 channels but then they started expanding to new channels on UHF—these were channels larger than number 13. All the regular channels of NBC, CBS, and DuMont, then later ABC, were on channels 2 – 13. The UHF channels tended to have independent stations, not networks. They’d show local, cheap programming. Bad movies. Local news. Reruns purchased to be syndicated to these smaller channels.
Once the financial rewards of syndication were known, it was soon discovered that 5 seasons provided a good number of episodes for a syndication package, so often networks would continue to pay for shows to get to that 5th season so they’d have a lucrative package. Other shows that are shorter do syndicate, but might not get as good of a financial offer for it.
Originally (1940s-late 1950s or early 1960s) TV shows were shown just for that time slot. They would perform many of them live and not record them. They’d do 2 performances—one for the east coast and then a few hours later another live performance for the west coast. They were lost to time, not having been recorded. Eventually they did start recording them (I Love Lucy was one of the first) but there wasn’t a plan to do anything with them later. Recording just made it easier to show on the west coast without having to re-perform it. And then they could do re-runs later in the year. But because they used to do all the shows live, they did a lot of shows—like 36 shows a year, as compared to modern 22 shows or less/year.
Then, in the 1960s, they found a lucrative new way to make money—they would show old TV shows on another channel. To do this they would bundle up the existing shows and sell the rights to air them. There were only 3 channels but then they started expanding to new channels on UHF—these were channels larger than number 13. All the regular channels of NBC, CBS, and DuMont, then later ABC, were on channels 2 – 13. The UHF channels tended to have independent stations, not networks. They’d show local, cheap programming. Bad movies. Local news. Reruns purchased to be syndicated to these smaller channels.
Once the financial rewards of syndication were known, it was soon discovered that 5 seasons provided a good number of episodes for a syndication package, so often networks would continue to pay for shows to get to that 5th season so they’d have a lucrative package. Other shows that are shorter do syndicate, but might not get as good of a financial offer for it.
Originally (1940s-late 1950s or early 1960s) TV shows were shown just for that time slot. They would perform many of them live and not record them. They’d do 2 performances—one for the east coast and then a few hours later another live performance for the west coast. They were lost to time, not having been recorded. Eventually they did start recording them (I Love Lucy was one of the first) but there wasn’t a plan to do anything with them later. Recording just made it easier to show on the west coast without having to re-perform it. And then they could do re-runs later in the year. But because they used to do all the shows live, they did a lot of shows—like 36 shows a year, as compared to modern 22 shows or less/year.
Then, in the 1960s, they found a lucrative new way to make money—they would show old TV shows on another channel. To do this they would bundle up the existing shows and sell the rights to air them. There were only 3 channels but then they started expanding to new channels on UHF—these were channels larger than number 13. All the regular channels of NBC, CBS, and DuMont, then later ABC, were on channels 2 – 13. The UHF channels tended to have independent stations, not networks. They’d show local, cheap programming. Bad movies. Local news. Reruns purchased to be syndicated to these smaller channels.
Once the financial rewards of syndication were known, it was soon discovered that 5 seasons provided a good number of episodes for a syndication package, so often networks would continue to pay for shows to get to that 5th season so they’d have a lucrative package. Other shows that are shorter do syndicate, but might not get as good of a financial offer for it.
Happy Days is owned by x. They sell the rights to the show to smaller, local stations.
Local station in 1985 has 3 competitors. Local station pays too dollar to lease Happy Days because they want more viewers and can charge more to advertisers.
Advertisers are willing to pay more to be watched by more people. But especially people in the 16-35yo male demographic. And that’s who was watching Happy Days in 1985.
Plus it was better than what’s on the other 3 channels (which were probably Donahue, local news, and After School Specials).
Everyone wins.
It does still exist today. I challenge you to watch Extended Cable for 3 daylight hours and not see one episode of Big Bang Theory.
Happy Days is owned by x. They sell the rights to the show to smaller, local stations.
Local station in 1985 has 3 competitors. Local station pays too dollar to lease Happy Days because they want more viewers and can charge more to advertisers.
Advertisers are willing to pay more to be watched by more people. But especially people in the 16-35yo male demographic. And that’s who was watching Happy Days in 1985.
Plus it was better than what’s on the other 3 channels (which were probably Donahue, local news, and After School Specials).
Everyone wins.
It does still exist today. I challenge you to watch Extended Cable for 3 daylight hours and not see one episode of Big Bang Theory.
A long time ago, in the 90s, there was no streaming. Networks needed to fill their daytime slots, so they put “old” episodes of a series there.
A series needed about 100 episodes to air 5-10 episodes per week without airing a duplicate episode every other month.
Also television exploded in the 1980s with satellite TV and cable. The networks needed more content.
Baywatch was briefly the biggest series on earth.
Happy Days is owned by x. They sell the rights to the show to smaller, local stations.
Local station in 1985 has 3 competitors. Local station pays too dollar to lease Happy Days because they want more viewers and can charge more to advertisers.
Advertisers are willing to pay more to be watched by more people. But especially people in the 16-35yo male demographic. And that’s who was watching Happy Days in 1985.
Plus it was better than what’s on the other 3 channels (which were probably Donahue, local news, and After School Specials).
Everyone wins.
It does still exist today. I challenge you to watch Extended Cable for 3 daylight hours and not see one episode of Big Bang Theory.
A long time ago, in the 90s, there was no streaming. Networks needed to fill their daytime slots, so they put “old” episodes of a series there.
A series needed about 100 episodes to air 5-10 episodes per week without airing a duplicate episode every other month.
Also television exploded in the 1980s with satellite TV and cable. The networks needed more content.
Baywatch was briefly the biggest series on earth.
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