Who made more money Friends or Seinfeld? (2023)

Who made more money Friends or Seinfeld?

According to an estimate by Screen Rant, in the final seasons of Friends, the cost of producing one episode was amounting to around $10 million – five times more than it took to make a single episode of Seinfeld.

Friends Is The Winner Overall

Both series have been the subject of mammoth streaming deals, but eyebrows were particularly raised when Netflix paid $100 million to keep Friends through 2019. Yes, $100m for just a single year. HBO Max's $425 million deal further suggests just how much of a money-maker Friends still is.

Out of a list of 35 iconic TV shows, the two most-watched and beloved TV shows are '90s giants: “Friends” (43%) and “Seinfeld” (40%). Other shows people will stop to watch are “Game of Thrones” (37%), “Three's Company” (36%), “Frasier” (36%), “The Office” (36%), and “MASH” (35%).

The characters and stories carry more warmth and certainly more camaraderie than those on Seinfeld. Though both are comedies, the humor on Friends is lighter, less dry and sarcastic, and more accessible to incessant rewatches than whatever Jerry Seinfeld's gang is up to. Take their series finales, for instance.

One of the most successful shows in television history, “Seinfeld” premiered in 1989 and ran for nine seasons on NBC. By 2014, the series had generated $3.1 billion since entering syndication in 1995, according to Vulture.

Friends remains a highly lucrative sitcom for Warner Bros., raking in $1 billion annually. As part of their contracts, the cast receives 2% of the syndication income, totaling $20 million per cast member each year! So over the past five years, each of them made $100 million.

Jerry Seinfeld's net worth is $950 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

The Office Beats Out Friends as the Most Watched Licensed Show on Netflix — See the Top 10. The Office rules all!

On Oct. 1, the sitcom arrives on Netflix globally as a part of a five-year deal for reportedly north of $500 million, thanks to both its enduring observational humor and an escalating streaming war in which classic TV shows are being used as crucial weaponry.

Was Frasier or Friends more successful?

Many look at Friends as one of the most successful and, while it beat Frasier consistently in the ratings war, Frasier always had the better writing. Seinfeld ruled the roost for years, but the characters weren't as well-rounded as Frasier's.

'Seinfeld' was a hit before 'Friends' came along

Seinfeld premiered in 1989 and was unlike many popular sitcoms that came before it. Instead of focusing on a family or group of coworkers, Seinfeld followed a set of friends season after season.

Seinfeld is one of the first shows to effectively dare the audience to empathise with its characters by seeing their worst characteristics reflected in them. It thought it could achieve this by creating characters that were both engaging and amusing. It was mainly accurate.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is considered the longest-running sitcom to date. Reviewers who need to catch up on previous episodes or prefer to relive the ridiculous moments that the characters got themselves into can watch the series on Hulu.

Netflix reportedly paid more than $500 million to secure the streaming rights to Seinfeld, but that's not the only place you can see Seinfeld himself on the streaming service.

According to reports, Seinfeld is worth an incredible $950 million (£701m). Like his co-stars, he was paid $1 million (£736.7k) per episode for the final season of Seinfeld, but most of his fortune comes from lucrative syndication deals.

'Seinfeld' was a hit before 'Friends' came along

Seinfeld premiered in 1989 and was unlike many popular sitcoms that came before it. Instead of focusing on a family or group of coworkers, Seinfeld followed a set of friends season after season.