Economics and accuracy lost in "Brangelina" baby rush

By Mike Collett-White

LONDON (Reuters) - Even the most hardened celebrity watchers were taken aback by reports of an $11 million deal for exclusive rights to the first photographs of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's newborn twins.

Despite Hollywood duo "Brangelina" being one of the world's most famous couples, experts said it would be almost impossible to make back the money through increased sales and advertising.

But winning a bidding war boosts a magazine's profile, they added, and deals a blow to rivals in the fiercely competitive celebrity news world.

"This would be a world record and is an unbelievable amount of money to pay," said Darryn Lyons, who runs the London-based Big Pictures celebrity photograph agency.

Abe Peck, who was a long-time chair of the magazine program at U.S. journalism school Medill, described the reported deal as "verging toward the unthinkable".

The costs could be offset by selling secondary rights outside the U.S. market, for example, and owning images allows for follow-up stories quoting "friends" and "sources".

However, "if that price is accurate, it likely would become a loss leader for whoever bought it," Peck added.

"The big celebrity magazines might be willing to lose money in order to establish or maintain A-list primacy."

Lyons said rather than dampening enthusiasm among paparazzi in France seeking unauthorized images of the couple and their babies, the exclusive deal may actually heighten it.

"If the official pictures are worth, say, $15 million, I would say that paparazzi would be in for $5 million to $10 million on the open market. I know teams that are working in France at the moment and more paps are flying in."

NICE NEWS BEAT

The Nice-Matin newspaper, in the southern French city of Nice where Jolie had twins on Saturday, was among the first to break the news of the birth, and reported an unnamed U.S. publication paid $11 million for the photograph rights.

It also said the proceeds would go to charity.

U.S. celebrity publication In Touch Weekly actually ran a story on its Web site earlier, quoting sources confirming the birth, but it wrongly reported that Jolie had twin girls.

Still, it was closer to the truth than "Entertainment Tonight", which said in May that the twins had been born.