Kelly Ripa and Judge Judy Among TV’s Highest Paid Stars
TV Guide has released its annual report on TV’s Highest Paid Stars and a number of daytime stars made the list. All My Children alum Kelly Ripa reportedly earns $20 million a year as host of Live! With Kelly.
Matt Lauer, who recently extended his stay at The Today Show, takes home a hefty $21.5 for getting up so early. Mario Batali cooks up $6,000 an episode on The Chew.
Over at The View, Sherri Shepherd brings in a tidy $1.5 million a year. Anderson Cooper, who splits his time between his daytime talk show and his primetime gig on CNN, gets a handsome $11 million per year for his efforts. However, it is Judge Judy Sheindlin who tops the earnings board with $45 million a year.
To find out which stars are paid the most in primetime and late night visit TV Guide.
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Comments
7 March 2012
39 weeks 4 days
Why do they talk about soap operas costing so much money, and the stars of the soaps get paid peanuts compared to these guys. Six thousand a show to cook some food. With all the big salaries these people get, why did they cancel soaps, I heard costing too much money, what about the money they pay Kelly and Judge Judy, I would said there is a lot of money to go around.
16 June 2010
4 days 5 hours
I do not believe Kelly R is worth the money she gets. I can't stand her. I do not watch her show. How can anyone sit next to her she is so annoying? I did not know she made that much money. Is ABC crazy? Oh thats right, they are. The Disney ABC outfit makes the dumbest decisions. Why not really overpay a morning host who is lousy? She is so fake and comes off really silly for her age.
I know how I sound but I have never thought she was talented.
15 January 2009
33 min 44 sec
@Cindy Reid: The cost of production of a talk show or court series is relatively cheap.
First off they all of these reality series rely on 1 set. Soaps rely various sets. The cost it takes to role-out, setup and in the case of NY Soaps assemble each set means it takes a team of people to prepare these necessities for the actors to be able to film each day.
Second, for a court show the guest are easy to get. They are real people flown in and kept at some cheap hotel. For the talk show the majority of guest come on for free. It is those rare occasions where a celeb won't come on without some sort compensation or other monetary deal.
Third let's look at a few examples daily ratings averages:
Judge Judy - 10 million average viewers daily.
Live! With Kelly - 5 million viewers daily.
The View - 4.42 million viewers daily.
Just looking at these ratings vs cost of production the series can charge competitive advertising rates and each brings in the target demo networks are looking for.
So if you combine these elements together and put them up against say the current daytime drama ratings lineup today:
- The Young and the Restless 3.5
- The Bold and the Beautiful 2.4
- Days of our Lives 2.0
- General Hospital 1.9
If you compare the total cost of production vs advertising rates vs viewership, then you can see why they get the big bucks.
7 March 2012
39 weeks 4 days
I am just of fan of soaps. I know everything comes down to the all mighty dollar!!!
16 October 2008
2 weeks 6 days
Never been a Ripa fan. Don't watch the show.