Portfolio Magazine breaks down how much American Idol has earned over the past 8 years. It’s a staggering amount of money! It’s like a blockbuster film every year. No wonder Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul want raises.
Ratings are down this year but the show is still a money-making machine. I love it when fans declare that “this show is over!” and all that other non-sense. Yeah, it’s over… to the tune of $8.2 billion in 8 years.
Some highlights:
TV Revenue: $6.4 billion
Summer Tours: $30 million / year
CD/music sales: $600 million
Jennifer Hudson’s endorsements: $3 million
License deals: $400 million
Spin-offs, etc (copycat shows capitalizing on the Idol concept): $715 million (you can subtract this from the total since this did not necessarily go to Fox)
TV ratings on every show are down. Television ratings (like album sales) have downsized a lot in recent years due to TiVo, Hulu, YouTube, the internet altogether so Idol is still going as strong as ever.
