$6 million per episode
Rumor placed its first season per-episode budget at about $3 million. Of course, it needs much less in the way of original costuming and props, and probably rather more modest costs for sets and locations. Yet again, though, Game of Thrones is comparing very favorably with modern hour-long series for the most part. There’s just one exception for a regular series which is significantly more expensive: Boardwalk Empire. Its pilot—that’s just the first episode— cost $18 million dollars. A jaw-dropping figure, especially compared to a pilot for Game of Thrones that was perhaps a third of that, or less. On top of that, Deadwood ‘s budget covered a 12 episode season, with reports that the average episode was $5m, only half a million dollars higher than the raw $4.5m per episode of Game of Thrones. On the other hand, factoring in inflation, Deadwood ‘s budget is closer to $5.7m an episode. There’s just one exception for a regular series which is significantly more expensive: Boardwalk Empire. Its pilot—that’s just the first episode— cost $18 million dollars. A jaw-dropping figure, especially compared to a pilot for Game of Thrones that was perhaps a third of that, or less. Game of Thrones has big budgets and big ratings. The budget per episode for the HBO series averages $6 million. HBO. The world of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” is expansive, and expensive. There are multiple realms, dozens of characters, constant plot twists -- and dragons. The agency has reportedly paid $15.3 million of the show’s budget over the past four seasons in exchange for an estimated $108 million that the show’s production brings to the area. And the budget is not the only lavish thing about the “Game of Thrones” production. With the ambitious “Game of Thrones,” spiraling costs are a risk. The reported budget for season one was about $60 million; costs increased by roughly 15% for season two, says Michael Lombardo, HBO’s president of programming. Even with a 15% increase, there were some concessions required to make everything work. (Showtime owns about half its output; the recent breakout hit Homeland is produced by Fox.) That makes programming more expensive, but it’s a smart move. The first season of Game of Thrones was reported to cost between $50 million and $60 million to produce; but international sales covered more than $25 million of that. And by the way, some episodes of Game of Thrones actually have cracked that obscene average budget of $6 million per. That Battle of Blackwater episode? Where the Imp leaked a ship's worth of highly flammable Mountain Dew into the harbor and blew up half of Stannis's army? That cost a reported $8 million. And Lafayette estimates that about $10 per month goes to HBO from a cable subscriber's monthly premium package. So. Multiply, say, $35 million times 10, and you get... much more than $70 million. If Game of Thrones costs around $6 million an episode to make, and there are no commercials shown during the show, how does anybody make money off the series? By being insanely, widely, and increasingly popular, that's how. And Lafayette estimates that about $10 per month goes to HBO from a cable subscriber's monthly premium package. So. Multiply, say, $35 million times 10, and you get... much more than $70 million. The fantasy series is big business, and the scale of the production is unique for a television show. The making of “Game of Thrones” costs plenty, with the per-episode budget averaging $6 million. In comparison, Netflix’s original shows cost an average of only $3.8 million to $4.5 million per episode. The agency has reportedly paid $15.3 million of the show’s budget over the past four seasons in exchange for an estimated $108 million that the show’s production brings to the area. And the budget is not the only lavish thing about the “Game of Thrones” production. That single hour of television ended up costing $8 million. Which is about $2 million more than the already stupendous amount spent on your average “Game of Thrones” episode. The show’s writers, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, had to plead with HBO for the extra money. Without it, those spellbinding battle scenes would not have been possible.  (Showtime owns about half its output; the recent breakout hit Homeland is produced by Fox.) That makes programming more expensive, but it’s a smart move. The first season of Game of Thrones was reported to cost between $50 million and $60 million to produce; but international sales covered more than $25 million of that. Although the first Sunday night screenings pulled in an average of just 2.5 million viewers during the first season, Game of Thrones ’ average gross audience was 9.3 million viewers per episode. For the premium networks, what matters is that viewers are passionate enough to keep their subscriptions active.
http://www.westeros.org/GoT/Features/Entry/3988/ http://www.westeros.org/GoT/Features/Entry/3988/ http://www.ibtimes.com/game-thrones-big-budgets-bring-huge-success-how-hbo-series-makes-money-high-cost-episode-1658966 http://winteriscoming.net/2012/04/05/the-finances-of-game-of-thrones/ https://www.yahoo.com/tv/bp/burning-question--how-does--game-of-thrones--thrive-despite-high-per-episode-costs-234743521.html https://www.yahoo.com/tv/bp/burning-question--how-does--game-of-thrones--thrive-despite-high-per-episode-costs-234743521.html http://www.ibtimes.com/game-thrones-big-budgets-bring-huge-success-how-hbo-series-makes-money-high-cost-episode-1658966 http://nypost.com/2014/04/10/this-hour-of-game-of-thrones-cost-hbo-8m/ http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2012/03/game_of_thrones_how_hbo_and_showtime_make_money_despite_low_ratings_.html
how much it costs to make game of thrones