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Shows such as Big Brother, The Amazing Race, and American Idol helped to pave the way and create an interest in and structure for reality competition shows in the future. But, it was Survivor that was the original reality competition show that caused a stir not only in the United States but worldwide when it aired.
Thanks to its exotic locales, the desire to see how people behave when they are forced to come up with a strategy to remain in a game that is both physically and mentally exhausting, and do so all while not getting voted out or blindsided by tribal council votes, viewers tuned in in droves. And it is because of this that Survivor has remained on the air for a record 44 seasons, making quite a bit of money for the network in that time.
After more than 40 seasons on the air, here is how much Survivor has raked in for CBS.
How Much Survivor Has Made For CBS Alone
When Survivor first aired in 2000, it was clear nearly right away that CBS had a hit on its hands. And because of this, the ad revenue that came with the show got progressively more expensive as each season went by. As such, it was not unheard of for the reality show to bring in tens of millions of dollars each season for the network.
The first season of Survivor saw advertisers shelling out a mere $150,000 per commercial. But, after the network saw just how successful the show was, the season finale saw that number rise to $600,000 for a 30-second ad.
The popularity remained as the anticipation grew for the second season of the reality show, which happened to premiere directly after the Super Bowl.
As such, CBS bumped up the cost of advertising during the Super Bowl to nearly $2.4 million per 30-second slot, netting the corporation a pretty penny before the second season of the competition reality show ever began.
While CBS could not get millions of dollars from one advertiser during a regular season of Survivor, the average price of a commercial was still quite pricey at an estimated $230,000 in 2008. That number eventually reached over $350,000 per commercial slot.
With millions upon millions of viewers tuning in to watch how the game would play out, it appeared that the fee advertisers would pay would only continue to climb.
It is not just commercials that bring in the money for CBS during an episode of Survivor. Product placement plays a large part in the money earned by the show as well. This is because sponsors will pay millions of dollars to have their names prominently placed in a successful network show.
As such, during the first season alone, sponsors were paying $14 million to have their names displayed for viewers to see. That number only continued to rise as the show gained success.
As a result of these large sums of money coming in, and the fact that producing Survivor is inexpensive in comparison to other shows, Survivor has been very lucrative.
With production costs of around $2 million per episode and a final prize of $1 million, this is small in comparison to scripted shows. That in conjunction with sponsorships has allowed each season of the wildly popular reality TV competition show to bring in tens of millions at the beginning of the series, up to $166.6 million for Survivor All-Stars.
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Therefore, with 44 seasons of Survivor being on the air, even with some seasons being more popular than others, CBS has likely made billions of dollars from Survivor alone.
Paramount+ Has Fans Tuning In For The New And Past Seasons
Given that more viewers are turning to streaming services versus watching cable alone, the advertising dollars that used to be present for Survivor have gone down over the past several years.
As such, Paramount, who owns CBS, made the decision to put Survivor on both network television and on Paramount+. This allowed the company to earn more money still by adding the OG competition show to the reality TV lineup on the channel.
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Streaming ads can range in price, depending on the platform. For most, it costs $25 to $40 per 1,000 viewers. In comparison, television ranges from $40 to $200 for 1,000 viewers.
Even though CBS may not have the same amount in sponsorship on network television, they have been able to make millions with Survivor streaming on Paramount+.
Subscribers also pay a fee to be able to access the exclusive content. With $4.99 to $9.99 per month required to watch shows on Paramount+, and 77 million customers willing to pay this amount, it is no wonder that Survivor is still part of the weeknight round-up 23 years after it first premiered.
Survivor Is Still A Ratings Winner
The reason that Survivor is able to keep making large sums of money is due to the high ratings that the show continues to pull. Because those high ratings are with the highly competitive 18 to 49 age group, it appears that Survivor and all the money it makes for CBS is not going anywhere anytime soon.
Now, the consistent five million plus users that Survivor has enjoyed for many of the past seasons are good numbers by today’s standards. However, the numbers that the show used to receive in the early 2000s were upwards of 40 million for season finales.
Many like to speculate that Survivor may be canceled not only because of the change in the formatting of the show but also, because the ratings are significantly less than where they were prior to the advent of streaming.
These current numbers the show receives are many times good enough to win their timeslot for ratings. The reality show is doing something right to keep viewers returning season after season, and with return viewers come return advertisers.
The cycle makes for a happy CBS and an even happier parent company, Paramount when the quarterly bottom line is examined.
