“I’ll be there for you”, the familiar title song rang out, pop-up screen floated countless “youth back”, “it’s time to revisit”.
On February 11, the HD version of all ten seasons of “Friends” premiered on five major video sites in China, with one season updated every Friday. Returning after many years, it once again caused a new round of treasure chasing craze.
Ten years and ten seasons of “Friends” represent the youthful memories of a generation of people. However, more than the sentiment, the money-making ability of “Friends” is even more amazing. Although the show has been finished for 17 years, it earns the rights holder $1 billion every year just by selling the broadcast rights of Friends.
With the release of the full ten seasons of “Friends” in HD on Sohu Video, iQiyi, Youku.com, Tencent Video and Bilibili in China, how much real money will “Members Watch All Episodes” of “Friends” bring to each video platform?
Five major platforms launched “Members Watch the Complete Works”, and “Friends” was criticized by fans for its deletion
This time, the HD version of “Friends” is online, once again triggering a wave of nostalgia among netizens. On Weibo, netizens are sharing their memories with the show while waiting for it to start early.
With the HD version of “Friends” synchronized online in the major platforms, members can watch the first season of the full episode, non-members are updated every night with 2 episodes. The reporter contacted Bilibili, iQiyi and other platforms to understand the situation behind the copyright deal, but as of press time, there was no reply.
It is worth noting that after the 11th launch, the much-anticipated “Friends” has caused netizens to troll because of the censoring issue. According to feedback from netizens, the new online “Friends” is severely censored, the plot is not connected, the translation of lines has been changed a lot, and many episodes are missing so that new viewers may not be able to understand the funny parts at all.
As one of the earliest American dramas that many young people come into contact with, “Friends” is a series of sitcoms produced by NBC, about three men and three women living in New York as each other’s best friends, living together under the same roof of the daily story.
Three men and three women, a cafe and two apartments, this simple configuration became the most familiar scene in the youth of countless “Friends” fans.
In 1994, “Friends” first aired, and then one season a year, until the end of the tenth season in 2004, also for the end of this decade-long drama. On Douban, all ten seasons of “Friends” have maintained a rating of 9.7 or above.
Up to now, “Friends” has aired in over 220 countries and regions, has won the top TV comedy ratings for six consecutive seasons, has been nominated for 62 Emmy Awards, and is watched by an average of 25 million people every week, with a total viewership of over 100 billion across all broadcast platforms.
The huge fan appeal has attracted a host of domestic video platforms early on. In 2021, “Friends Reunion Special” landed on the three major platforms of Tencent Video, iQiyi and Youku, when the show had also sparked controversy due to infringing videos.
Streaming takes off, global battle for the rights of “Friends” opens
In September 1994, the first season of “Friends” was broadcast on NBC in the United States, and in May 2004, “Friends” had its grand finale, and an era was declared to be over.
The finale of “Friends” came at a time when the global Internet technology was emerging and watching American dramas began to become one of the most popular forms of leisure for young people. “Friends” continued to spread through the Internet and live on. In China, the first step for countless college students learning English was to be required to watch Friends over and over again until they didn’t need subtitles.
Another decade later and into the streaming age, the already classic old show “Friends” has become even more valuable. Related media reported that in 2015, Friends went live on Netflix, with annual broadcast rights worth $30 million. in 2018, viewers worldwide watched a total of 54.3 million hours of Friends on the platform, the equivalent of 62,000 years.
On Netflix, Friends consistently ranked in the top two for airplay, so at the end of 2018, the two parties engaged in rights renewal negotiations, which resulted in Netflix buying the rights to stream Friends on the platform for 2019 for $100 million.
However, as the one-year lease expired, Warner Bros.’ determination to surpass Netflix and create streaming media gradually became apparent. in 2020, “Friends” said goodbye to Netflix and switched to HBO Max, Warner Bros.’ streaming platform. Specifically, HBO Max purchased the exclusive broadcast rights to the Friends series for the next five years for $425 million.
To this day, “Friends” continues to make $1 billion a year for Warner Bros. The six lead actors, who also rely on “Friends” for their enormous wealth, each receive about 2% of the royalty share or $20 million per year.
In 2010, Sohu chairman and CEO Zhang Chaoyang bought the rights to “Friends” with a high-profile ad saying “Watch American dramas on Sohu”. However, at the end of April 2018, the rights to “Friends” expired and Sohu video suddenly appeared with a “playback error” alert, catching viewers off guard. The loss of “Friends” undoubtedly added to the woes of Sohu video at the time.
Now, “Friends” is broadcast on five major video sites in China, causing countless fans to scream, but the battle for capital interests behind it has just begun. Source