How do networks make so much money just on viewers watching?

[Vb]

I mean is it because of other kind of sales, like the show dvd they sale, etc? Just wondering! and also youtube? how does that make so much money?

oh is it because of the advertisment?

[Eternity]

Yes, actually all social networking sites do the same thing, which is why you see so many advertisements rolling off in them.

[ms.whitty26]

Commercials. 30 seconds spots can cost thousands of dollars for one showing. In prime viewing hours, (7-10) it can get into the tens of thousands. Even in the millions for high profile shows like the Super Bowl and such.

[frontstca]

sweeps week yaaaaa this sets the amount of viewership for the program and the more viewers the more they can charge for their advertising...

[Baccheus]

Its advertising .. for years. Primetime 30-second commercials are often $500,000+; American Idol gets $1.5 Million. But even so, most TV shows are not profitable when they first one. The real money is in the syndication -- when they continue to run off-prime and on other stations or cable networks for years.

[Frank Castle]

1) Yes.
2) No.
3) Nobody makes any money with YouTube. (Except Google)
4) Do you know anybody without a television?

[Sharing Mind]

advertiser like place where a lot of people gather. they spend billions of dollars on the net and willing to pay to get their advertisement shown on a popular website. that's why so many website offer free services to surfers. they can make a lot of money if their free services received well by surfers. that's why there are free survey companies, free paid to read email, free traffic xchange, free article directory, free web directory, social networking site, free social bookmarking site, free video site, free classified ads site, free hosting site, free image hosting. they all have one purpose to exist, to attract people to come to their site by giving away free services and when their traffic surge so will their income.