Neethane En Ponvasantham | Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu | Assi Nabbe Poorey Sau

[San_K]

One of the thoughts that came up while watching the show was how do the numbers work for such a show

Getting 50 EU musicians to Chennai for a show - the mere travel / stay and such mundane stuff could easily cost around $100K...add another $100K for their professional fees, other expenses (venue / Mano recording etc) - even if one considers the NEPV crew themselves didn't charge any and the local celebrities too offered to be on the show free of cost - the cost of such a show could easily touch Rs 1 cr ($200K).

Per SKV's estimate, there was a crowd of 3K or so and the tickets couldn't have covered more than 30-40% of that expenses.

Are the rest all by TV rights? Sponsors? How does even Gautam talk about donating money to charity from the proceeds?

TV rights is way bigger than any other income for this type of programmes. Even a mokkka 'kail nigazhi' can get 1 Cr. Personnally I know kalaignar TV paid nearly 1.5+ cr for Yuvan's first live concert (dubai). It is noted that his dubai concert is not successful as his second one held at Chennai.