May 14 1998: Last episode of Seinfeld airs on NBC. Commercials are offered at $2M for 30 seconds.
Seinfeld was slow to gain a following when it first aired on NBC July 5, 1989 but by its sixth season it was number one in the Nielsen ratings. It ran for nine seasons; the final episode was watched by 76 million viewers on May 14, 1998, making it the fourth most watched series finale in U.S television history. The asking rate for 30 second advertising was record breaking at the time. The previous record had just been set in January 25, 1998 when advertisers paid an average of $1.3 million for a 30 second spot at Super Bowl XXXII.
Read more from Goizueta Business Library’s collection:
Seinfeldia : how a show about nothing changed everything
PN1992.77.S4285 A86 2016
Seinfeld, master of its domain : revisiting television’s greatest sitcom
PN1992.77 .S4285 S43 2006
Sources:
AdAge, New York Times, Library of Congress