Advertisers who want to reach Oprah Winfrey's audience as she bids farewell to her syndicated series on May 25 will find themselves shelling out big-time.
The going rate for a 30-second spot on Winfrey's swan song is currently $1 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.
That's a staggering sum, to be sure — but not unprecedented. A recent study conducted by Horizon Media's programming analyst Brad Adgate indicates that Winfrey will command more than the 2010 finale for "Lost," which fetched $900,000 for a 30-second spot, and last year's "24" finale, which took in $650,000 for half a minute of ad time.
However, she'll still need to boost that ad rate significantly if she wants to catch up with "Seinfeld," which commanded $1.42 million for a 30-second spot for its 1998 send-off, and the "Friends" farewell of 2004, which snagged a bank-breaking $2 million per half-minute ad.
Check the list below to see where Oprah falls along the spectrum of TV finales' big-time paydays:
"Friends" (2004) $2 million
"Seinfeld" (1998) $1.4 million
"Everybody Loves Raymond" (2005) $1.2 million
"The Oprah Winfrey Show" (2011) $1 million
"Lost" (2010) $900,000
"The X-Files" (2002) $679,000
"24" (2010) $650,000
"Cheers" (1993) $650,000
"Ally McBeal" (2002) $582,000
"Frasier" (2004) $570,000
