An Ad Costs How Much??

The prices for Super Bowl ads always appear in news copy and this sometimes creates a false impression about ad prices. Forbes reports that ad pricing depends not only on the size of the audience but also the kinds of eyeballs who are watching the show. (Consider the audience for Hereos on NBC. The show's audience is now 2 million viewers smaller--it's in 59th place among viewers--for advertisers, the show attracts some of the right viewers and still generates some of the most expensive advertising rates.

Read all about it below:

http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/08/television-advertising-american-idol-business-media-tv-moneymakers.html

or http://notlong.com/stats/?nickname=forbes-ad-prices&password=zdt-vrkg

Television Advertising

TV's Biggest Moneymakers

Lacey Rose, 04.08.09

From American Idol to Grey's Anatomy, a look at the 15 most expensive ad buys in prime time.

In Pictures: TV's Biggest Moneymakers

This time last year, CBS' The Mentalist seemed like just another crime drama in the pipeline. Without A-list talent or a franchise supporting it, advertisers saw little reason to shell out for the show. In fact, a 30-second spot on the freshman series commanded a hardly-impressive $107,000, on average, this season.

Twelve months and 16 million weekly viewers later, high-performing newcomers like The Mentalist--a top-five show in its first year--are poised to see their price tags soar. At the same time, reliable holdovers like News Corp. ( NWS - news - people )-owned Fox's American Idol will continue to fetch top dollar, while waning favorites like Walt Disney ( DIS - news - people )-owned ABC's Ugly Betty will likely take a hit.