Some of the most eye-popping paydays in broadcast TV these days are being generated by unscripted TV show hosts.
Kevin Hart, Ellen DeGeneres and Dwayne Johnson are pulling in some $500,000 per episode for hosting competition series on CBS and NBC: CBS’ “TKO: Total Knock Out” for Hart, NBC’s “Ellen’s Game of Games” for DeGeneres and NBC’s upcoming “Titan Games” for Johnson. Jamie Foxx is understood to pocket some $350,000 an episode for Fox’s musical quiz show “Beat Shazam.”
Unscripted TV series have long been seen as the low-cost alternative that help networks balance their budgets as the price of scripted series climbs ever higher. That’s still true, but the crowded TV landscape means that networks have to spend more to make unscripted series stand out.
“Once you’ve invested $25 million to launch a show, if another $3 million to $5 million [in host fees] makes the difference between success or failure, it’s worth it,” says a veteran talent agent in the unscripted arena. Success in the U.S. market also frequently determines the prices format rights will fetch in other markets, the source notes.
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As such, the demand for star power has created a windfall for A-listers with the inclination to play games or crack wise while people try to make their way through an obstacle course.
“These are people who are really, really good at what they do,” says Mark Burnett, veteran producer and chairman of MGM Television, the home of “TKO: Total Knock Out” and “Beat Shazam.” “If you want to have that level of capability on the screen combined with the marketing value of a star and the umbrella effect it has on promotion for the network, you have to pay them.”
The income gap between the haves and have-nots in the unscripted realm is underscored by the pay scale for Netflix’s “Queer Eye” revival. As a group of largely unknowns, the new Fab Five — Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness — each took in all of $5,000 per episode for the first eight episodes of the show, according to knowledgeable sources. That rose to $7,500 for Season 2, plus a $20,000 bonus apiece.
But nobody needs to throw a rent party for the Fab Five. Each member of the group is now said to be raking in seven figures through endorsement and branding deals, speaking engagements and other off-screen opportunities. Which only goes to prove the TV truism that there’s no faster way to become a star than by hitching a ride into America’s living rooms.