South Park: A Cultural Phenomenon That Redefined Animated Comedy

South Park, the wacky, bizarre, and very loveable animated show premiered on August 13, 1997. It's hard to believe that Cartman, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny have been making us laugh for 22 years. Since August 13, 1997, more than 300 episodes of South Park have been broadcast. The show was an immediate hit, consistently earning the highest ratings of any basic cable program. The show's twenty-third season premiered on September 25, 2019.

The brainchild of Matt Stone and Trey Parker, South Park has made the two men very wealthy. The two met in college at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in a film class in 1992. They shared a love for Monty Python, which inspired them to create an animated short called The Spirit of Christmas. This short used animated construction paper cutouts with stop motion and featured early versions of the South Park main characters. Their friend Brian Graden, an executive at Fox, commissioned Stone and Parker to create a second version of The Spirit of Christmas in 1995, which became a video Christmas card.

Graden sent the video to his friends, and from there, the VHS tape (remember, this was 1995, before YouTube) was copied, forwarded, and eventually digitized, making it one of the first viral videos on the internet. Parker and Stone then developed The Spirit of Christmas into a television show, revolving around four kids living in the fictional town of South Park, Colorado. The rest, as they say, is history.

In 2007, Stone and Parker's contract with Comedy Central was up for renewal. By then, South Park had become a cultural icon. The new contract they signed is still considered unprecedented in Hollywood. It allowed them to create a digital hub for everything South Park, including streaming episodes, which wasn't really a thing yet in 2007. The most important part of the contract was that it gave them 50% of all ad revenue generated by the show, whether from broadcast or digital platforms.

This lucrative arrangement means Stone and Parker earn between $25-$30 million per year each just from the Comedy Central broadcast of the show. Every time the show is sold into syndication, they receive 50%-25% each. If that seems insane, you’re not alone! But there’s a reason this happened: a loophole in their original 1997 Comedy Central contract. Back then, no one could have foreseen the value of digital rights, except perhaps Matt Stone, Trey Parker, and their attorney.

Their lawyer included a clause in the original contract that guaranteed the show’s creators a 50% cut of any revenue generated outside of the show’s television broadcast. For 20 years, that clause was waiting for technology to catch up. Then YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and other video streaming platforms emerged.

Viacom, the parent company of Comedy Central, panicked and tried to talk their way out of the clause. In the end, Stone and Parker prevailed, not only securing a 50% cut of non-broadcast revenue but also gaining the right to distribute the show digitally as they see fit. When South Park episodes began to be pirated on YouTube, they made every episode available online for free, earning millions from digital ad revenue.

Today, Matt Stone has a net worth of $700 million, while Trey Parker has a net worth of $600 million. They are poised to become even richer. They truly began to cash in with the arrival of streaming services like Hulu. When Hulu paid $192 million for four years of rights to the back catalog, Matt and Trey each earned around $50 million. It was the largest streaming deal in history at that time.

In 2019, when the deal was up, they placed the franchise on the market for $500 million, which would equate to around $125 million each. The story of South Park is not just one of laughter and humor; it illustrates the power of smart contracts, the importance of foresight in the digital age, and the impact of cultural phenomena in entertainment.

• Understanding the Creation: Learn about the origins of South Park and its cultural impact.
• Financial Success: Discover how smart contracts shaped the financial future of its creators.
• Digital Era Adaptation: Explore the transition to digital platforms and what it means for animated shows.
• Lasting Legacy: Reflect on how South Park became a staple of American television.