Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing on smash comedy Friends, has died at 54. News outlets have reported that Perry was found unresponsive in a hot tub at his Los Angeles home. 

Perry’s struggles with drugs and alcohol went on for much of his life. 

Perry was born in 1969 in Williamstown, Massachusetts. His mother was a press secretary for the Canadian prime minister, Pierre Trudeau. His father was an actor. 

Perry’s parents divorced when he was a baby. He grew up primarily with his mother and stepfather, Keith Morrison, in Ottawa. 

When he was 15, Perry moved in with his father in Los Angeles, focusing on tennis, which he’d played at a high level in Canada. He also got started in acting. 

Perry’s film debut was the 1988 feature A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon. His movie roles also included Almost Heroes, Three to Tango, 17 Again and The Whole Nine Yards. 

Friends ran from 1994 to 2004 on NBC and was a massive hit. 

After Friends, Perry was in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on NBC in 2006 and 2007, Mr. Sunshine on ABC in 2011 and The Odd Couple on CBS from 2015 to 2017. 

Two years ago, Perry appeared in a Friends reunion on HBO Max. 

Perry wrote the 2022 memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. 

Warner Bros. Television Group, which produced Friends, said in a statement: “We are devastated by the passing of our dear friend Matthew Perry. Matthew was an incredibly gifted actor and an indelible part of the Warner Bros. Television Group family. The impact of his comedic genius was felt around the world, and his legacy will live on in the hearts of so many. This is a heartbreaking day, and we send our love to his family, his loved ones, and all of his devoted fans.”

Below is a snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of Sept. 27-Oct. 3, shining a spotlight on the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data from Vizio’s Inscape, and top shows and networks by TV ad impressions with insights via iSpot.tv.

Most-Watched Shows and Networks

Via Inscape, Vizio’s TV data product with glass-level insights from a panel of more than 17 million active and opted-in smart TVs. Data is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).

Four weeks into the NFL season, the league continues to dominate watch-time on TV, with 6.86% of minutes watched during the week of Sept. 27-Oct. 3.

Some additional insights about the top programming on TV:

• College football is the second-most-watched, increasing watch-time from 3.43% to 3.76% week-over-week.
• NCIS: New Orleans moves up from No. 20 to No. 25 on the week.
• Chicago Fire’s new season keeps pushing the show up the ranking, leaping from No. 23 to No. 16 week-over-week.
• Blue Bloods’ season 12 premiere leads to a migration from No. 27 to No. 23 from Sept. 27-Oct. 3.
• Of the 25 most-watched shows of the week, six are procedurals (with police, fire or Western settings).

Also Read: Fall 2021 TV Premiere Dates

NBC remains at No. 1 for the week, with 8.76% of minutes watched thanks to Sunday Night Football, Saturday’s Notre Dame vs. Cincinnati game, and the continued momentum of the fall primetime lineup.

More insights around the most-watched networks from Sept. 27-Oct. 3:

• CBS, ABC, Fox and ESPN complete the list of top five networks by minutes watched, courtesy of (to little surprise) football, with all airing both college and NFL games during the week.
• Freeform shoots up the charts week-over-week from No. 41 to No. 25, courtesy of a variety of Halloween-centric movies.
• Other networks increasing their share of minutes watched week-over-week: Hallmark, NFL Network, USA Network, TV Land and History.

Top Shows and Networks by TV Ad Impressions

Via iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company. Rankings are by TV ad impressions, for new episodes only.

The NFL serves up the most TV ad impressions once again, with over 7.7 billion from Sept. 27-Oct. 3.

More data about the top programs by TV ad impressions during the week:

• College football is No. 2 yet again, delivering nearly 4.4 billion TV ad impressions across a slew of networks and games airing from Thursday through Saturday.
• Soap operas make a good showing among the top programs by ad impressions, grabbing four spots in the top 25 (including The Young and the Restless at No. 6).
• The Voice continues its strong showing for NBC in week four, delivering almost 610 million TV ad impressions, which ranks No. 7 overall.
• Major League Baseball wrapped up the last week of the regular season with 465 million TV ad impressions — 16th amongst all programming from Sept. 27-Oct. 3.
• With a week to go in the season, Bachelor in Paradise clocks in at No. 25 by impressions for the week, with over 380 million.

CBS remains No. 1 in this week’s ad-impressions-by-network ranking, after another week of NFL action, plus a top-20 matchup between Alabama football and Ole Miss, helping lead the way to almost 11.3 billion impressions.

Additional insights around the top networks by impressions from Sept. 27-Oct. 3:

• NBC rides Notre Dame football and Tom Brady’s return to New England on Sunday Night Football to over 8.9 billion TV ad impressions on the week.
• Cable news networks continue to deliver more impressions than most of their cable counterparts, as Fox News, MSNBC and CNN are all among the top 10 overall from Sept. 27-Oct. 3.
• It’s an action-packed time on the sports calendar right now, and sports-focused cable networks are delivering more impressions as a result. Six of the top 25 networks this week are cable sports networks.

Below is a snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of Sept. 20-26, shining a spotlight on the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data from Vizio’s Inscape, and top shows and networks by TV ad impressions with insights via iSpot.tv.

Most-Watched Shows and Networks

Via Inscape, Vizio’s TV data product with glass-level insights from a panel of more than 17 million active and opted-in smart TVs. Data is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).

Week three NFL action leads to another watch-time win, as NFL games made up 5.65% of all minutes watched on TV during the week of Sept. 20-26.

College football is once again No. 2, with 3.43% of watch-time during the time period, while golf’s Ryder Cup is No. 3 at 1.79%. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (0.92%) and Good Morning America (0.83%) round out the top five for the week.

With the regular season coming to a close, Major League Baseball owns 0.72% of watch-time — sixth among all programming. SportsCenter is No. 10 at 0.61% of minutes watched, while NFL RedZone continues to increase its share of watch-time, jumping from No. 24 to No. 16 week-over-week as fans tune in to keep an eye on each day’s big scoring plays for fantasy football purposes.

The Ryder Cup is the fastest rising programming for Sept. 20-26, placing third by watch-time after not appearing on TV the previous week. The Voice (No. 11) and Live From the Ryder Cup (No. 24) are also newcomers to this week’s top 25. Chicago Fire also jumps into the top 25 at No. 23 following its season premiere.

Also Read: Fall 2021 Premiere Dates

NBC and CBS flip-flop for the week, and NBC moves up to No. 1 with 8.78% of minutes watched, thanks to Sunday Night Football and its fall primetime slate (the return of The Voice, in particular). CBS winds up at No. 2 for the week of Sept. 20-26, with 6.88% of watch-time due in large part to football (NFL and college), plus some of its own primetime shows returning. Fox is No. 3 on the week with 6.38% of minutes watched, followed by ABC (6.07%) and Fox News (4.36%). 

Week-over-week, Golf Channel is the biggest riser, rocketing up from outside the top 50 networks to No. 24 with 1.00% of watch-time from Sept. 20-26 thanks to the Ryder Cup. Discovery moves from No. 27 to No. 22 on the week, while Univision moves up three spots, from No. 17 to No. 14, and Nickelodeon rises from No. 19 to No. 17.

TV Land sits at No. 25, earning 0.98% of minutes watched during the time period.

Top Shows and Networks by TV Ad Impressions

Via iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company. Rankings are by TV ad impressions, for new episodes only. 

Live NFL games served up more than 5.9 billion TV ad impressions for the week of Sept. 20-26, once again surpassing all other programming. College football is second once again during the timeframe, with 4.2 billion. The 2020 Ryder Cup (delayed a year due to the pandemic) is No. 3 (1.4 billion TV ad impressions), followed by Good Morning America (835 million) and The Price Is Right (796 million).

The Voice follows closely behind, with 795 million impressions (sixth overall) during its season premiere, while fellow reality TV stalwart Big Brother is 18th with 457 million. 

News- and talk-related programming remains a major aspect of these weekly rankings. From Sept. 20-26, these shows made up more than half of the top 25 by TV ad impressions, and seven of the top 15 (eight if you count ESPN’s sports news and highlights show SportsCenter).

CBS sits at No. 1 in this week’s ad-impressions-by-network ranking, assisted by the NFL in particular, which accounts for 11% of all live episode impressions on the network from Sept. 20-26. The network’s nearly 8.6 billion TV ad impressions are enough to stay ahead of the competition for a second straight week.

NBC is No. 2 on the week, with 8.2 billion, followed by ABC (6.0 billion), Fox News (5.3 billion) and Fox (4.5 billion). Fox, specifically, sees impressions leap by 55% week-over-week thanks in part to a Sunday NFL doubleheader in week three, college football and the season premiere of The Masked Singer.

The Ryder Cup is a big boost to both NBC and the Golf Channel this week. The (typically biennial) golf event is part of a 25% week-over-week impressions boost for NBC and a 185% increase for Golf Channel.

Included below is a snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of Sept. 13-19, spotlighting the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data from Vizio’s Inscape, and top shows and networks by TV ad impressions with insights via iSpot.tv.

Most-Watched Shows and Networks

Via Inscape, Vizio’s TV data product with glass-level insights from a panel of more than 17 million active and opted-in smart TVs. Data is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).

Week two of the NFL regular season turned out much like week one did: as the No. 1 programming for watch-time on TV. NFL games made up 6.41% of all minutes watched during the week of Sept. 13-19.

Behind the NFL, college football is No. 2, with 3.87% of watch-time during the time period, followed by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (0.84%), Good Morning America (0.83%) and Friends (0.77%) to round out the top five.

Highlighting the draw of sports-related programming before the fall TV season begins in earnest, SportsCenter is No. 6 on the week with 0.76% of minutes watched, while Major League Baseball is No. 8 at 0.59% as teams jockey for playoff position. And in yet another win for football, NFL RedZone winds up at No. 24.

The top 25 most-watched shows ranking also features several week-over-week newcomers. Thanks to its season finale, America’s Got Talent moves up from No. 26 to No. 13 by minutes watched, while the 73rd Emmy Awards telecast is No. 17. CBS Mornings leaps from No. 30 to No. 18, while America Reports With John Roberts & Sandra Smith, NFL RedZone and ABC World News Tonight with David Muir are all week-over-week new arrivals as well after each missed the top 25 the previous week.

Boosted by two afternoon NFL windows on Sunday and a big Alabama vs. Florida college football matchup on Saturday, CBS grabs the top spot by watch-time for the week of Sept. 13-19, with 8.14% of minutes watched. 

NBC is No. 2 on the week, with 7.02% of minutes watched, buoyed by programs including Sunday Night Football and America’s Got Talent. ABC is No. 3 with 6.87% of watch-time thanks in part to a Monday Night Football simulcast and another full slate of college football on Saturday. The NFL and college football helped power Fox to No. 4 at 5.05% of minutes watched, while Fox News is No. 5 with 4.59%.

NFL Network is the biggest mover, from No. 46 in our previous ranking all the way up to No. 13 for the week of Sept. 13-19. As one might guess, the NFL fueled the rise, as the network simulcast its first Thursday night game of the year — the  New York Giants vs. the Washington Football Team — with Amazon Prime Video.

MSNBC also moves up, from No. 16 to No. 12, as does Bravo — from No. 27 to No. 25.

Top Shows and Networks by TV Ad Impressions

Via iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company. Rankings are by TV ad impressions, for new episodes only. 

For the week of Sept. 13-19, the NFL picks up right where it left off the previous week, once again serving up more TV ad impressions than any other programming. Live NFL games delivered over 7.2 billion impressions on the week.

College football holds steady at No. 2, with nearly 4.5 billion TV ad impressions, followed by Good Morning America (934 million), Today (836 million) and The Price Is Right (815 million).

America’s Got Talent’s season finale fuels a leap into the top 10 with nearly 643 million impressions. The 73rd Emmy Awards telecast on CBS arrives in the top 25 as well, coming in at No. 23.

CBS got a bump from the NFL, Alabama football and the Emmys on its way to laying claim to the No. 1 spot in this week’s ad-impressions-by-network ranking. The network’s 9.9 billion TV ad impressions are nearly 3 billion more than the next-closest network.

Speaking of, ABC is No. 2 on the week with 7.0 billion impressions, followed by NBC (6.6 billion), Fox News (5.0 billion) and Fox (2.9 billion). All of those but Fox News aired at least two NFL or college football games during the week of Sept. 13-19.

Despite TV’s distinct focus on football right now, news continues to deliver billions of TV ad impressions across cable. Beyond Fox News, MSNBC and CNN each delivered over 2.2 billion impressions from Sept. 13-19, while The Weather Channel (362 million) and CNBC (322 million) both also appear among the top 20 networks by impressions.

Despite eroding restrictions that are letting more and more Americans out of the house, a J.D. Power report Thursday said nearly 80% of consumers are streaming entertainment as much or more than during the height of the pandemic. 

In a survey released Aug. 5, J.D. Power asked 1,209 adults in June about their streaming habits over the past six months. According to the researcher, 79% said they are streaming the same or more over that time period. In addition, the number of streaming providers per household rose to 4.5 in June from 3.9 in December, with more customers utilizing streaming apps via smart TVs, mobile phones and tablets. According to the survey, 40% of respondents access streaming apps through smart TVs (vs. 36% in December); 36% via smartphones and tablets (up from 30% in December) and 28% through a laptop computer (up from 25% in December).

According to the survey, apps are the second-most used streaming connection path. Hardware platforms like Roku, Apple TV and Chromecast also got sizable boosts for reasons ranging from retrofitting a non-connected TV to make it “smart,” or accessing services that may not be available on specific brands of smart TVs.

With that rise in consumption also comes a greater tolerance for price increases. Respondents to the survey said they spent an average of $55 per month for streaming services, up 17% since December. 

Also Read: JD Power: New Streaming Services Chip Away at Netflix Dominance 

J.D. Power said recent price increases from Netflix and Disney Plus are one of the culprits for the uptick in overall spend, adding that streaming services have invested heavily to add content.  

But higher prices and the rise in the number of streaming services hasn’t diluted the number of total subscriptions per household, according to the J.D. Power survey. About 57% of respondents said they subscribe to 4 or more streaming services, up from 50% in December. J.D. Power said that the emergence of platforms that cater to specific content — like Discovery Plus, which focuses on home and lifestyle shows -- has helped expand the number of services consumers subscribe to. 

“So while the a la carte nature of streaming could lend itself to less customer spending, it appears the inverse is happening,” J.D. Power said. “The more choices, the more temptation to get access to a specific library.” 

The top three streamed shows also reflect that diversity of options, with Netflix’s Lucifer logging in at No. 1 with 5% of respondents, followed by Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale (4.4%) and HBO Max’s Friends (2.6%).

Netflix maintained the top spot among streaming services, with 89% of respondents saying they subscribe to the service, compared to 81% in December. Amazon Prime Video held second place, cracking the 70% milestone for the first time with 76% of respondents claiming to be subscribers (up from 65% in December), followed by Hulu at 64% (up from 56% in December), and Disney Plus at 52% (up from 47% in December).

Though the final episode of Friends aired on NBC 17 years ago, you certainly wouldn’t know it. Since then, its popularity has only risen via streaming and syndication. Data from iSpot shows it remains one of the top shows for delivering TV ad impressions, too — it’s fourth overall in 2021 so far, with over 26.9 billion year-to-date.

With that in mind, it’s perhaps no surprise that the show’s long-awaited reunion special, which is available on HBO Max, was bound to generate excitement — for both the show’s fans and the streaming service, which hopes to use the event to increase subscription numbers.

iSpot data shows that HBO Max has aired three different promo spots for the reunion special since May 1, equating to 93.7 million TV ad impressions — over 20% of the service’s impressions in the timeframe. Interestingly, nearly all of those TV ad impressions came from WarnerMedia-owned networks. And (as noted by Marketing Brew earlier in the promo cycle), over 54% of those impressions came during airings of … Friends.

• 'Friends' - A Timeline of Obscene Profitability
• 'Friends' Reunion Drew 2 Million Households Over Weekend

Among the other top shows HBO Max aired Friends reunion special ads during: 2 Broke Girls (5.9% of TV ad impressions), George Lopez (4.2%), Charmed (3.3%) and NCIS: New Orleans (3.3%). Nearly 60% of those impressions came during daytime programming, with just 8.2% in primetime.

The big takeaway around the streamer’s TV strategy? It appeared most concerned with making absolutely sure that Friends fans know about the reunion show and that HBO Max is the exclusive place to stream Friends (if they didn’t know already). On top of spots for the reunion show, three more general Friends spots also aired in the May 1-June 3 timeframe, totaling another 1.6 million TV ad impressions (all of which were during syndicated Friends airings).

HBO Max took to social media as well, though, to make sure Friends fanatics tuned in — either when the special first dropped, or after the fact. Data from Tubular Labs shows that Friends reunion special content (including promos, interviews and clips) generated over 89 million video views on YouTube alone since May 1, with over a third coming from WarnerMedia-owned accounts.

The official reunion trailer had the most Friends-related views on YouTube, with 19.4 million in just over two weeks, while People’s exclusive interview with the cast in advance generated another 6.6 million. Interestingly, Entertainment Tonight created the most YouTube videos about the reunion special, with 14 overall (earning 15.9 million views in the process).

YouTube views for HBO Max-owned accounts overall also rose with the hype around the reunion. In collecting more than 56 million views in May, HBO Max racked up its highest monthly YouTube view tally since May 2020 (nearly 66 million). That month was boosted by the service’s debut and a slew of promos around what was appearing on it. Though, surprisingly, HBO Max actually uploaded more YouTube videos (78) this past month than it did in May 2020 (58).

Welcome to our quick snapshot of TV by the numbers for the week of May 24-30, revealing the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data from Vizio’s Inscape, and the top shows and networks by TV ad impressions with insights via iSpot.tv.

Most-Watched Shows and Networks

Via Inscape, Vizio’s TV data product with glass-level insights from a panel of more than 17 million active and opted-in smart TVs. Data is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).

The NBA Playoffs were a fixture on TVs over the last week, as the games stayed in first place for watch-time once again, with a 4.33% share of minutes watched (up from 3.04% the week before). Sports maintained a large presence overall, as five of the top 10 shows by watch-time were sports-related. Beyond the NBA, NHL hockey (0.80%), MLB baseball (0.70%), college softball (0.65%) and PGA Tour golf (0.63%) were the other sports programs in the top 10.

Drafting off the Friends reunion show on HBO Max, reruns of the beloved sitcom  jumped all the way to third by minutes watched, with 0.88% of the total; that’s up from No. 11 the previous week. Good Morning America (0.89% of watch-time) was No. 2, followed by Friends, Today (0.82%) and the NHL.

Week-over-week, some of the biggest movers were Home Town (unranked to No. 18), The Voice (up from No. 28 to No. 13) and SpongeBob SquarePants (No. 24 to No. 15). More generally, PGA Tour golf was new to the top 50 this week, but only because it was replacing the PGA Championship (second the week before).

On the strength of the Indy 500 and The Voice’s two-part season finale, NBC jumped up to No. 1 in the network rankings (from third last week), with 7.13% of watch-time. ABC stayed in second with 6.52% of minutes watched, buoyed by the ongoing NBA Playoffs, while TNT (which also airs the playoffs) climbed from eighth to sixth. Lifetime moved up to 25th, with 1.01% of watch-time on the week, to close out the top 25.

Top Shows and Networks by TV Ad Impressions

Via iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company. Rankings are by TV ad impressions, for new episodes only. 

Now fully in the swing of the playoffs, NBA games reigned supreme again, delivering nearly 4.6 billion TV ad impressions from May 24-30 (a 49% jump from the previous week). Good Morning America moved up one spot to second, with 873 million TV ad impressions, followed by Today (820 million), The Price Is Right (772 million) and NHL hockey (762 million). 

NASCAR programming saw major increases for the week, fueled by both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600. The latter paced a TV ad impressions increase of 153% week-over-week for the NASCAR Cup Series.

CBS remained atop the ad-impressions-by-network rankings, with over 6.4 billion TV ad impressions — nearly 500 million more than NBC (which moved up one spot from the previous week, to second). Despite the NBA playoffs — partly airing on the network — ABC moved down one spot to third.

Fox News and TNT (another NBA Playoffs TV partner) rounded out the top five on the week. TNT’s impressions more than doubled week-over-week with the NBA’s first-round series all heating up. ESPN2 maintained a spot within the top 25 on the strength of NCAA postseason action for softball and baseball. And History Channel closed out the ranking in 25th place, up one spot from the week before.

The heavily hyped reunion of the cast of Friends on HBO Max attracted 2 million U.S. households over the holiday weekend, according to figures from Samba TV.

The 2 million viewers that watched the Friends special was bigger than the 1.7 million that watched the finale of Mare of Easttown on HBO Max. 

HBO Max is part of WarnerMedia, which AT&T is spinning off and merging with Discovery, which will become Warner Bros. Discovery when the transaction closes.

It also outdrew Cruella, which got 686,000 households via Disney Plus Premier Access. To watch, Disney Plus subscribers had to fork over $30.

The Friends reunion features the long-running sitcom’s six stars hosted by CBS’s James Corden. There were also appearances by Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Tom Selleck.

Samba TV said the Friends reunion skewed younger, over-indexing with viewers 54 and down. Viewers also tended to be affluent.

In New Hampshire and Wyoming, 24% of all households watched the reunion. 

Samba said viewership was bigger in the U.K., where it also appeared on linear TV. The show had 2.5 million households in the U.K.

According to JustWatch, Friends has been the most popular show on HBO Max since it launched a year ago. 

Doctor Who, Rick and Morty, Watchmen and The Wire, round out the top five, according to JustWatch.

JustWatch, an international streaming guide that helps over 20 million users per month across 47 countries to find something great to watch on Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus and other streaming services.

With the long-delayed Friends cast reunion finally posting on HBO Max Thursday, part of the overall $425 million pocket-to-pocket deal WarnerMedia signed with itself in 2019 to move streaming rights for the classic comedy series from Netflix to its own SVOD platform, we wondered, just how much has this show made for its networks, studio, producers, distributors, talent, and various adjacent industries, since it launched 27 years ago?

That number has to be in the tens of billions of dollars. But outside the bowels of WarnerMedia’s accounting firm, it’s difficult to get a more precise estimate.

To loosely quote the Rembrandts, their lives might be jokes. Their love lives might be DOA. But none of the principals involved with Friends are still broke. Call this episode "The One Where Their Individual Wealth Is Starting to Exceed the GDP of Small Island Nations." 

Here are 10 of the show’s most profitable moments:

May 18, 1994 — The first season finale episode, “The One Where Rachel Finds Out,” averages a season-high 31.3 million viewers. The performance showcased significant audience growth over the Friends pilot, which debuted on NBC eight months earlier to around 22 million viewers, and solidified the Warner Bros. series’ status as a top 10 show and staple in NBC’s emerging “Must See TV” lineup. The core cast members, Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc, are each making around $22,500 an episode at this point.

April 28, 1995 — Friends debuts as an immediate hit on Channel 4 in the UK, beginning an international distribution revenue stream that has reaped unspecified billions of dollars. The comedy is such a smash that even its title song, The Rembrandt’s “I’ll Be There for You,” hits No. 3 on the UK singles charts. 

January 28, 1996 — The hourlong season two episode “The One After the Super Bowl," featuring guest stars Brooke Shields, Chris Isaak, Julia Roberts, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Fred Willard and Dan Castellaneta, averages a Super Bow-like audience of nearly 53 million viewers, according to Nielsen. At this point, the six core cast members are making different rates — between $20,000 - $40,000 per episode. But they begin collective bargaining in season three, when they each take home $75,000 per installment. By seasons seven and eight, they’re each earning $750,000 per episode. And it's not long after that their paychecks reach $1 million per.

September 1998 — Friends debuts in broadcast syndication, fetching Warner Bros. TV $4 million per episode in fees. Warner Bros. later signs a pocket-to-pocket, $1 million-per-installment cable deal with erstwhile parent company AOL Time Warner’s Turner Networks. Friends debuts on TBS in the fall of 2001. 

April 30, 2002 — Warner Home Video debuts the complete first season DVD compilation of Friends. Over the next decade, the studio will release all 10 seasons, plus complete series iterations, on discs. Seasons 1 and 2, as well as the complete series, are available in Blu-ray collections, too. With Friends taking a streaming pause between the time it left Netflix at the end of 2019 and the launch of HBO Max on May 27, 2020, Variety reported that uptake of the $94.93 full-series Blu-ray collection, and the $54.99 DVD iteration, surged.

December 22, 2002 — NBC agrees to pay $10 million per episode, $180 million total, for a 10th and final season of Friends. The Friends cast members, again bargaining collectively, agree to keep their rates at $1 million per episode. Paying high salaries to the six core cast members, while also compensating creator/EPs Marta Kaufman and David Krane, drives production cost to around $9 million - $10 million per episode, according to Variety. But Warner Bros. is just happy it doesn’t have to deficit finance a cash cow that’s already hugely profitable in the aftermarkets. 

October 15, 2014 - Netflix signs a four-year, $120 million deal to become the exclusive streaming home for all 236 episodes of Friends. Later, to extend the deal to a fifth and final year (2019), Netflix paid WarnerMedia another $80 million.  

February 27, 2015 — USA Today reports that Friends, which is entering its fourth broadcast syndication contract cycle, is still generating $1 billion a year in revenue for the erstwhile Time Warner Inc. Indeed, a 20-year-old property, that had been off network TV for more than a decade, made around 4% of the media conglomerate’s total revenue for 2015. The core cast members, who each smartly negotiated a 2% stake in the aftermarket bounty, take home $20 million a year. 

July 9, 2019 — WarnerMedia announces that it will take back exclusive Friends streaming rights from Netflix and make the series a lynchpin on its own soon-to-launch subscription video-on-demand platform, HBO Max, in a pocket-to-pocket distribution deal valued at $425 million. In the run-up to the May 27, 2020 launch of HBO Max, Friends will serve as a core asset in its marketing collateral.

May 27, 2021 — Friends central cast members were each paid between $2.5 million - $4 million, depending on which Hollywood trade media report you believe, to participate in a Friends cast reunion on HBO Max, debuting on the one-year anniversary of the platform’s launch.

HBO Max will premiere the unscripted special Friends: The Reunion May 27, marking the one-year anniversary of the streaming network’s launch. Stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer return to the original Friends soundstage on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank. 

Guests include David Beckham, Justin Bieber, BTS, James Corden, Cindy Crawford, Lady Gaga, Kit  Harrington, Mindy Kaling, Tom Selleck and Reese Witherspoon. 

Ben Winston directed the special. He’s an executive producer, along with Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane. Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc, Perry, and Schwimmer are executive producers as well. 

Warner Bros. Unscripted Television produced the special in association with Warner Horizon, Fulwell 73 Productions and Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions.

Friends was on NBC from 1994 to 2004.

ViacomCBS’s Nick at Nite will continue to air reruns of Friends as part of a new multi-series agreement with AT&T’s Warner Bros. Television.

As part of the deal, Nick at Nite also bought the off-network cable premiere rights to Young Sheldon, which will start to appear on the channel on Nov. 30. 

The Friends move illustrates that while AT&T spent big bucks to put Friends on its streaming platform HBO Max--and take it away from rival Netflix--it prefers getting  income from cable syndication to being the exclusive outlet for the popular show.

Young Sheldon is also available for streaming on HBO Max.

Nick at Nite has been running 11 episodes of Friends a night from 9 p.m. until 3:05 a.m. The episodes are longer than 30 minutes each because they are stuffed with extra commercials.

Nick at Nite has also been running two other Warner Bros. shows on weeknights, Mom and Full House, but the network declined to say whether those shows were included in the renewal.

Beginning Nov. 23 at 9 p.m., Nick at Nite will be presenting a Super-Stuffed Friends-Giving featuring classic Friends episodes, highlighted by a marathon of Thanksgiving-themed episodes on Thursday.

HBO Max has been hyping a one-shot Friends reunion, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, production has been delayed several times.

Friends premiered in 1994 and stars David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and Jennifer Aniston as 20-somethings in New York. There were 236 episodes before the show’s finale in 2004.

The series was created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, who executive produced the series with Kevin Bright through Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

This is a quick snapshot of linear TV trends for the week of July 13-19, revealing the most-watched shows and networks using glass-level data from Inscape, and the top shows and networks by TV ad impressions via iSpot.tv.

Most-Watched Shows and Networks 

Via Inscape.tv, the TV data company with insights from a panel of more than 15 million smart TVs. Data is linear, live TV only and includes all episode types (new and reruns). Rankings are by percent share duration (i.e., time spent watching).

Looking at shows, of all the minutes watched by smart TVs that Inscape measured in all dayparts, 1.08% of the time was spent on PGA Tour Golf, an increase from the previous week’s percent share duration of 0.88%. Ridiculousness (0.82%) and Friends (0.79%), which both aired over 200 episodes last week, surpassed morning talk shows to round out the top three.

On the network side of things, of all minutes watched last week, 6.27% of the time was spent on NBC — a move up from the previous week where it was No. 2. Second and third places go to ABC (6.07%) and Fox News (6.02%). Other networks rising in the ranks compared to the previous week include Hallmark Channel, Investigation Discovery, Nickelodeon, Univision, TNT, The Golf Channel and TV Land. 

Top Shows and Networks by TV Ad Impressions

Via iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company. Rankings are by TV ad impressions, for new episodes only. 

Although the show ranking was mostly dominated by news and morning talk shows, sports programming makes an appearance — PGA Tour Golf was No. 1 by TV ad impressions (849.5 million), while NASCAR Cup Series was No. 11 with 466.7 million impressions. Meanwhile, America’s Got Talent and Days of our Lives both made the top 15; those two along with CMA Best of Fest were the only non-news or sports programming on the ranking.

For the second week in a row, Fox News took first place with over 6 billion TV ad impressions, a slight increase from last week’s 5.9 billion. CNN followed with nearly 4 billion impressions, and ABC (3.7 billion) edged out NBC to be the top broadcast network. Three Spanish-languge networks also made the top 25 list: Univision (1.4 billion impressions), Telemundo (814.1 million) and UniMás (237.2 million). 

The cast of Friends will reunite for an unscripted, as-yet untitled HBO Max special. Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer will return to Stage 24 on the Warner Bros. Studio lot in Burbank for a celebration of the smash comedy. The special, along with all 236 episodes of the series, will be available to subscribers when HBO Max launches in May.

“Guess you could call this the one where they all got back together — we are reuniting with David, Jennifer, Courteney, Matt, Lisa and Matthew for an HBO Max special that will be programmed alongside the entire Friends library,” said Kevin Reilly, chief content officer, HBO Max and president, TBS, TNT and truTV. “I became aware of Friends when it was in the very early stages of development and then had the opportunity to work on the series many years later and have delighted in seeing it catch on with viewers generation after generation. It taps into an era when friends – and audiences – gathered together in real time and we think this reunion special will capture that spirit, uniting original and new fans.”

Ben Winston will direct the special and will executive produce along with Friends executive producers Kevin Bright, Marta Kauffman and David Crane. Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc, Perry and Schwimmer will also executive produce the special. Warner Bros. Unscripted & Alternative Television and Fulwell 73 Productions are producing it.

Friends debuted on NBC in 1994 and ran for ten seasons. 

Netflix has reached a deal to keep exclusively streaming classic sitcom Friends for another year.

The deal with AT&T’s recently acquired and rebranded WarnerMedia division (formerly Time Warner Inc.) means that Netflix will pay a reported $100 million to remain the exclusive U.S. streaming home for Friends in 2019. (The Wall Street Journal reported the renewal deal, while The New York Times reported the figure.)

Netflix has paid WarnerMedia around $30 million a season, or $500,000 an episode, for the show since 2014. It remains a popular draw on the platform. The streaming platform’s users erupted in Twitter fury this past week when Netflix announced that the show would be leaving the service at the end of the year.

AT&T reportedly has the option after 2019 to also stream Friends on its direct-to-consumer OTT platform, set to launch at the end of next year.

Revealing details about this platform last week, WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey said platforms like Netflix will see their libraries of licensed content grow “thinner” when companies like WarnerMedia and Disney launch their own OTT platforms and start keeping more of their content exclusive to their own platforms.

Contradicting Stankey, however, was his boss, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, who told WSJ’s Tech D.Live conference last month that the broader the distribution for shows like Friends, the better.

“When you have premium content, distribution is everything,” he said. “And broad and wide distribution is something I feel very strongly about. Do I care if Friends is shown on Netflix and on a Warner Media SVOD service? Probably not.”

TBS is set to air a 14-episode Friends Thanksgiving marathon, followed by a three-hour collection of Seinfeld for the Holidays starting Nov. 27 at 10 a.m., the network announced today. 

Friends will air 10 Thanksgiving episodes, along with four episodes on dating troubles, while Seinfeld picks up at 5 p.m. with the Festivus episode, The Strike.

Friends Begins With the Following:

10 a.m. – The One Where Underdog Gets Away

10:30 a.m. – The One with the List

11 a.m. – The One with the Football

11:30 a.m. – The One with Chandler in a Box

Noon – The One with the Thanksgiving Flashbacks

12:30 a.m. – The One Where Ross Got High

1 p.m.–  The One Where Chandler Doesn't Like Dogs

1:30 p.m. –  The One with the Rumor

2 p.m. –  The One with Rachel's Other Sister 

2:30 p.m. – The One with the Late Thanksgiving 

3 p.m. –The One with the Evil Orthodontist

3:30 p.m. –The One with the Routine

4 p.m. –The One with the Fake Monica

4:30 p.m. –The One with the Ick Factor

Seinfeld for the Holidays Begins:

5 p.m. – The Millennium

5:30 p.m. –The Label Maker

6 p.m. –The Mom and Pop Store

6:30 p.m. –The Red Dot

7 p.m. –The Pick

7:30 p.m. –The Strike

Netflix continues to add to its collection of library titles with the acquisition of 1990s comedy series Friends, the OTT service announced Wednesday.

Netflix will have access to all 10 seasons of the iconic Warner Bros./NBC series, starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer, said Network officials.

While the series is currently in syndication, it’s the first time all 236 episodes and 83 hours of  the Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions-produced Friends series will be available on a streaming subscription service.

Friends will debut on Netflix beginning Jan. 1, 2015, said Netflix officials.

TBS celebrated Thanksgiving last year with a 14-episode marathon of Friends, and the network will once again offer marathon programming of the syndicated sitcom. The occasion is the 20th anniversary of the show, which debuted on NBC in September, 1994. 

Corresponding with the anniversary, TBS will air 20 episodes of Friends on Monday, September 22, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. E.T./P.T. The network has not yet announced which episodes will air during the marathon, as it will leave the programming choices partially up to viewers. Fans are encouraged to vote for their favorite episodes by submitting their choices via Facebook or Twitter, using the hashtag #FavoriteFriends. The marathon will consist of the episodes that receive the highest number of suggestions via social media. 

"We're thrilled to be celebrating Friends' 20th anniversary by giving fans the chance to choose their favorite episodes for TBS's 20-episode marathon," said Phil Oppenheim, senior vice president of programming and scheduling for TBS and TNT, in a release. "This is a great way for longtime fans to rediscover the show and for new fans to join the fun."