'Hawaii Five-0' could become the next billion-dollar franchise for CBS

"Hawaii Five-0" books 'em for CBS. 

Profits, that is.

The sun-drenched remake of "Hawaii Five-O," starring Alex O'Laughlin and Scott Caan, can boast something few first-season scripted TV shows can: It is already on track to turn a profit. 

On a conference call with analysts regarding first quarter results Tuesday, CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said the company will rake in nearly $5 million an episode with the sale of the show's reruns to Time Warner Inc.'s TNT channel, in addition to license fees paid by foreign broadcasters. Foreign revenue, he said, amounts to $2.5 million an episode.

"This is only 'Hawaii Five-0''s first year and it’s already on its way to being another billion-dollar franchise for us, joining 'NCIS' and 'CSI,' which both remain strong on our network," Moonves said.

Broadcast license fees rarely cover the cost to produce a scripted show, so most TV series do not recognize a profit until the third or fourth season when rerun deals are traditionally negotiated. But in recent years, cable channels have been bidding on promising new network shows right out of the gate. That gives networks such as CBS a greater incentive to produce and own their content.

NBCUniversal's USA Network clinched a deal to buy reruns of "NCIS: Los Angeles" after just six original episodes had aired on CBS, Moonves said. TNT bought "Hawaii Five-O" half-way through the current TV season.

"Quality premium hours are very tough to come by and there’s a bidding war for these types of things," Moonves explained. "The marketplace is very strong both internationally, which continues to grow, as well as domestically.  If you have the right kind of [programs] that aren’t serialized, that have an action component, you can get these kind of numbers. So it’s a great business."

CBS posted revenue of $3.51 billion and net earnings of $202 million in the first quarter. The results surpassed expectations.

-- Meg James

Photo: "Hawaii Five-0" stars Alex O'Laughlin, left, and Scott Caan. Credit: Mario Perez / CBS 

Comments

[Mark]

Hawaii Five-1? Hawaii Six-0? San Francisco Five-0? Atlanta Five-0?

[Ian]

I'm just a bit offended by the failure to name the other two stars Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park. What white-washing, biased reporting is that?! Just rude.

[@shirik1]

how about a dividend to us loyal fans?

[Joseph L Cooke]

Both lead actors need a shave. There's enough thug-looking drug dealer wannabes already infesting TV-land.

[Amy]

That is a joke. The show has been losing viewers since the premiere. Last Monday lost the time slot again to ABC Castle and only got 9.8 million viewers and 2.5 demo. It could had been a hit, but after the pilot numbers have been dropping and dropping. It is a lame show with terrible acting.
NCSI is getting over 20 million viewers and 4s demo. That is a billion dollar franchise . Same as NCSI LA and all the CSIs.
CBS failed with this remake.

[templetalk]

Love this show! Can't wait for each new episode. Love all of the cast, especially Alex O' Loughlin! Love Hawaii, the scenery is spectacular!

[Lolly]

I love AO'L, and Scott Caan is also wonderful but I cannot watch this show, even to see them. The plots are idiotic and the writing inane. They lost me when they decided to call their team "50" because of the numbers on McGarrett's football jersey. Don't they realize that "50" means police? Duh. Guess not.

I'm sure CBS will wring as much money as they can out of the franchise because that's all they seem to care about.

[Becks]

@Amy,

The show hasn't lost viewers since the start. It has lost viewers the last three eps or so (and actually the one before this week had 12 mill). But it has faced the meltdown of its lead ins.

When you have other shows on CBS getting a 2.2 or a 2.1 regularly out of 3plus demo lead ins from NCIS and others and HFO now is ALWAYS the most watched show of the night on CBS on Mondays - no mean feat at ten pm. Then The Eye are going to know it isn't the show it is the fact that the night before it has collapsed.

Also they really don't need HFO to be getting 3.5's and if they'd wanted that they'd have put it at 9p.m. - as long as it can get mid to high two's and get to season four its made em a fortune.

Finally Castle when it didn't have DWTS to lead it in was pulling much scarier numbers than HFO - getting only 2.0-2.1 demos for a couple of weeks and once only 7 million viewers. Like many ten pm dramas they are both clearly lead in dependent to a degree.

CBS would be very wise to move HFO next year to give it a chance. But of course next year will be the make or break year. It will either keep its demo or grow on it or do a Good Wife and tank. If they keep it on Mondays it may well just tank. Whereas I bet it could easily do better than Suspect Behaviour against say SVU.

[Amy]

@Becks.
Sorry, no true, check the numbers. The show has lost viewers sine the start, Some examples,
Pilot....14.19 Million.....3.9 demo
3rd episode....12.24M......3.5 demo
4th episode.....10.69 Million....3.1
9th episode....10.34M.....2.8 demo
12th episode....10.91 M....2.8
17 episode....10.72 M.....2.8
20 episode.....9.54 M....2.5....

Only one time after the 3rd episode, the show was able to get 12 million viewers, after that, it went back to 10. . And that was because it was against a Castle rerun.
The rest of the CBS shows on Monday nights are against Dancing with the Stars. They are against HUGE competition. So they are doing better than H50 that only has Castle as a competition and the law&order, LA flop. H50 has the easiest spot on Monday nights.

[Jacki]

@Amy

You brought up some good points but I saw you surprisingly left this out:

19th episode... 19.34M...5.6 demo.

I am a huge fan of castle but a also like H50. I just think it's going through the usual first season high and lows where the viewers are deciding whether if they should get invested in the series or jump ship. Remember the first season of castle. After the first two episodes of 11million, it average only 9million in the next three and finally hit a low of 7M in episode 6, luckily it bounce back and finish strong at the 10th and season finale episode with 10m. Castle's first season was short, but H50 got a full season order of 24 episodes. It's too still early to determine how it will fare in the season finale, You never know, it might just pull off a castle and get renewed for a second season.

[Amy]

@Jack
ARE U SERIOUS?
That episode was an especial airing that took place immediately after the NFL's AFC Championship game . That game got more viewers than any other championship game in a decade, so actually those 19 million were even a low number when u consider the HUGE lead in . After that airing,the next episode of Hawaii 50 in the usual Monday spot dropped again to the 11 million and 2,8 demo . Meaning , the show didn't improve at all after that big game chance.

[Byron]

@Amy

I find it impressive you keep such a detailed list on a show you don't care for, although it seems... excessive. I personally dig the show. It's fun. Scott Caan keeps me laughing. And at the end of a long work day and the kids are in bed, my wife and I aren't looking to solve any big riddles or get emotionally invested into talking heads.