
Thank God someone has decided to speak up. My company is a content provider and buying of air time is not beans at all. Its really expensive to be a producer in this country.
Independent Television Producers in Nigeria are really getting the rough end of the stick. They are endangered species. According to celebrity netod someone work.com, in America here’s how a typical TV production company operates:
“Step 1) Production company sells a show idea to a TV network. Step 2) The TV network pays the production company a flat fee per every episode to produce a season of TV. Step 3) The TV network goes out to advertisers and tries to make more money selling ads than it pays for the actual show.
For example: Jerry Bruckheimer Television sells a TV show called “CSI Miami” to CBS. CBS agrees to pay Jerry Bruckheimer Television $1 million weekly for 23 episodes of CSI Miami. CBS then goes to advertisers like McDonalds, Coca Cola, Viagra, Lipitor, Ford etc… and convinces these companies to buy advertisements that air during CSI Miami. When it’s all said and done, CBS better be making more money off the advertising than it’s paying for CSI Miami. In this case, more than $23 million. If not, the show gets dropped and can typically never air again because CBS owns the right of first refusal.”
That is in America.
In Nigeria, on the major television stations, including NTA, the reverse is the case. I have personally experienced it as with a few of my colleagues.
Step 1. Production Company shoots a television series/serial or programme.
2. The Independent Producer searches high and low first for a brand to sponsor. More – often – than – not he/she is unsuccessful.
3. The Producer approaches the private TV station and asks for airtime to air his content, thinking that the station would be glad to collect the content and pay for such. Alas, the stations are mostly run