Advertisers in €1.5m frenzy for Friends finale

Advertisers in America are expected to pay a record €1.5m for a 30-second slot during the final episode of sitcom Friends later this year.

The figure is just short of the amount charged for 30 seconds of ad time during the Superbowl.

The previous highest price for ad time was in 1998, during the final episode of Seinfeld, which cost €1.3m for 30 seconds.

Network NBC has sold nearly all the spots for the Friends final episode, set to air on May 6.

The network can command such prices as the final antics of Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, Ross, Joey and Chandler are expected to be beamed into 30 million homes across America.

Before the final show is broadcast, an hour-long programme of clips from previous episodes will be aired.

The night is expected to pull in around €57m for NBC, according to the trade publication Broadcasting & Cable.

The final Friends episode is shrouded in secrecy and the producers are believed to be filming several alternative endings.

Many of the key scenes will be recorded this coming Friday, but there will no audience to prevent the plot from leaking.

Despite pulling in so much advertising revenue, NBC has had to pay the Friends stars handsomely.

Courteney Cox-Arquette, Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry have been paid a reported $1m (€850,000) per show for the past two seasons.