City Press has reported that the Generations break will cost the SABC R140 million. Yep! That's how much the national broadcaster will lose while the popular soapie is off air.
Industry insiders told the paper that the SABC sells a 30-second advertising spot during the 8pm weekly slot for R230 000. Two insiders told the paper that a 30-minute soapie like Generations would shoot for 22 minutes – leaving eight minutes to sell to advertisers.
In those eight minutes, up to 16 adverts can be aired. That means Generations was earning the SABC close to R4 million an episode, about R18 million a week and R74 million a month – excluding repeats and the Saturday omnibus.
SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago, told the paper: "We spoke to the advertisers long before we made the changes so that they could make up their own mind. They understood when we told them that we had no choice but to change the programme because we did not have 16 actors. What you need to understand is that some of these spots have been booked a long time in advance, so an advertiser won't just take their money and go elsewhere for two months."
WOW!