Mad Men costing Sky £5 for every viewer
IT was poached from the BBC with much fanfare by Sky, which reportedly bid three times as much for the rights.
But the satellite broadcaster may be regretting its decision to snap up American advertising drama Mad Men.
Viewing figures sank to just 47,000 for the third episode of the fifth series on the Sky Atlantic channel on Tuesday night.
That’s an alarming drop from the 355,000 viewers who watched the premiere of the fourth series when it was on BBC4.
It is understood that Sky is paying about £250,000 an episode for the glossy 1 60s drama. Based on Tuesday’s figures, that amounts to more than £5 per viewer.
While the show, starring Jon Hamm as Don Draper and Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway, picks up more viewers from repeated episodes and ‘consolidated’ viewing through video recorders, the ratings have surprised many within the industry.
It has been claimed that Sky’s deal for the rights to Mad Men is worth more than £5million, which is thought to cover two series.
A Sky insider said: ‘Mad Men is the centrepiece of the Atlantic channel. But there has been a huge gap from when it was on the BBC to the new series airing on Sky.
‘Sky do not care about the ratings. If it makes thousands subscribe to Sky or stops thousands unsubscribing, then it is OK. But that is a lot of money to pay for Mad Men.’ Mad Men’s figures compare with the opening episode of fantasy action series Game Of Thrones, which got 522,000 viewers on the same channel.
Despite this, Sky has said Mad Men is rating well. The fifth series launched last week with two episodes aired consecutively. The first attracted 8,000 viewers but the following instalment dropped to 45,000.
A Sky spokesman said: ‘In Sky homes Mad Men has never been more popular. When you look at those who watched the first episode of Mad Men live, or caught up through Sky+ or on-demand, it was the most watched episode in Sky homes ever, and by some margin.’
The broadcaster refused to comment on the monetary value of the deal.