NBC heavily promoted the series finale, which was preceded by weeks of hype. Viewing parties were organized by local NBC affiliates around the United States, including an event at Universal CityWalk featuring a special broadcast of the finale on an outdoor Astrovision screen. It was shown in New York City, where over 3,000 people watched it on big screens in parks. The finale was the subject of two episodes of Dateline NBC, one of which ran for two hours. Prior to the airing of the episode, a one-hour retrospective of clips from previous episodes was shown. Following the finale, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was filmed on the set of the Friends' Central Perk café, which featured the series' cast as guests. The advertising rates for the finale averaged $2 million for 30 seconds of commercial time. This currently remains as the largest advertising rate ever for a sitcom, breaking the previous record held by the Seinfeld finale at $1.7 million.
