Any television executive knows that the big money is in reruns: Hit shows like “Seinfeld” and “Star Trek” keep raking it in long after the writers penned their last scripts. Now a group of theater producers is putting a twist on that business model, taking long-running Broadway hits and moving them Off Broadway to test if they can live on in rerun mode, where costs are lower and the profit potential is significant.

The first test case has been “Avenue Q,” a Tony Award winner for best musical. The show cost $3.5 million to mount on Broadway in 2003; an additional $4 million was spent on marketing alone in its first year. By 2009 the show wasn’t a hot seller anymore, yet “Avenue Q,” along with its potty-mouthed puppet stars, had become a brand name.

So why not capitalize on that equity, then, by moving the musical to a smaller Off Broadway house, where weekly costs would fall by two-thirds? The producers did in October 2009, and earned their entire investment back in 13 weeks. Only $700,000 was needed for marketing that first year, because like “Cheers,” everybody knew the “Avenue Q” name.

Now those producers, as well as a third partner, are trying it again. This summer they plan to revive “Rent,” another Tony winner that ran for 12 years and closed in 2008. The musical will cost $1.5 million to mount Off Broadway, about twice as much as “Avenue Q,” and will play at the same New World Stages complex on West 50th Street, one block off Broadway. The producers think audience interest in “Rent” will be big enough to fill its 499-seat theater indefinitely.