American Idol - TV's Biggest Moneymaker - $7 million every 30 minutes

By Rickey ·

Wow. American Idol is TV's biggest moneymaker and it makes double as much as the next show on the list "24".

TV's Biggest Moneymakers (Forbes.com)

American Idol
Revenue per 30 minutes: $7 million
Average cost of a 30-second ad: $623,000
Viewers: 25.6 million

When it comes to prime-time viewers and advertisers looking to reach them, Idol is the Super Bowl of prime time. With a combined average audience of 26 million viewers thus far this season, an average telecast of Fox's singing competition rakes in $7 million more than that of the second most expensive show.

(For comparison:)

Dancing With the Stars: Results
Revenue per 30 minutes: $2.5 million
Average cost of a 30-second ad: $205,000
Viewers: 16.8 million

Dancing With the Stars
Revenue per 30 minutes: $2.4 million
Average cost of a 30-second ad: $196,000
Viewers: 19.8 million

American Idol