Pay per viewer: TVs highest paid stars
Pay per viewer: TVs highest paid stars
Chelsea Handler may not have a lot of viewers, but she gets paid a lot of dough for the ones she does have on "Chelsea Lately." Jon Stewart is likewise laughing all the way to the bank. And it's time for CNN's Anderson Cooper to come out... as possibly overpaid.
Click on the faces below to see who makes the most money per viewer. You might be surprised. Read the story: What is the real value of TV stars and personalities?
| Advertisement |
| |
#1 | Chelsea Handler: 'Chelsea Lately'
Salary: $12 million | Ratings: 0.718 million
Pay per viewer: $16.70
Image: Benjamin Reed / Los Angeles Times
#2 | 'Anderson Cooper: '360'
Salary: $6 million | Ratings: 0.443 million
Pay per viewer: $13.54
Image: Ali Goldstein / Warner Bros.
#3 | David Letterman: 'Late Show'
Salary: $31 million | Ratings: 3.2 million
Pay per viewer: $9.69
Image: John Paul Filo / AP
#4 | Jon Stewart: 'Daily Show'
Salary: $14 million | Ratings: 1.7 million
Pay per viewer: $8.24
Image: Frank Franklin II / AP
#5 | Bill O'Reilly: 'O'Reilly Factor'
Salary: $16 million | Ratings: 2.8 million
Pay per viewer: $5.71
Image: Jeff Christensen / AP
#6 | Craig Ferguson: 'Late Late Show'
Salary: $8.5 million | Ratings: 1.5 million
Pay per viewer: $5.67
Image: Monty Brinton / CBS
#7 | Matt Lauer: 'Today'
Salary: $25 million | Ratings: 4.6 million
Pay per viewer: $5.43
Image: Peter Kramer / NBC
#8 | Judith Sheindlin: 'Judge Judy'
Salary: $45 million | Ratings: 9 million
Pay per viewer: $5
Judith Sheindlin makes the highest salary within surveyed group
Image: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times
#9 | Piers Morgan: 'Piers Morgan'
Salary: $2 million | Ratings: 0.49 million
Pay per viewer: $4.08
Image: CNN
#10 | Maury Povich: 'Maury'
Salary: $13 million | Ratings: 3.2 million
Pay per viewer: $4.06
Image: Universal Domestic Television
#11 | Stephen Colbert: 'Colbert Report'
Salary: $4.5 million | Ratings: 1.2 million
Pay per viewer: $3.75
Image: Jeff Christensen / AP
#12 | Jimmy Kimmel: 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'
Salary: $6 million | Ratings: 1.8 million
Pay per viewer: $3.33
Image: Carin Baer / ABC
#13 | Simon Cowell: 'X Factor'
Salary: $40 million | Ratings: 12.6 million
Pay per viewer: $3.17
Image: Nino Munoz / FOX
#14 | Ellen Degeneres: 'Ellen'
Salary: $5 million | Ratings: 2.9 million
Pay per viewer: $1.72
Image: Michael Rozman / AP
#15 | Tyra Banks: 'America's Next Top Model
Salary: $4 million | Ratings: 2.4 million | Pay per viewer: $1.67
Image: Mathieu Young / The CW
#16 | Tina Fey: '30 Rock'
Salary: $7.2 million | Ratings: 4.6 million
Pay per viewer: $1.57
Image: NBC
#17 | Mehmet Oz: 'Dr. Oz'
Salary: $4 million | Ratings: 3.3 million
Pay per viewer: $1.21
Image: George Burns / AP
#18 | Ashton Kutcher: 'Two and a Half Men'
Salary: $17 million | Ratings: 14.7 million
Pay per viewer: $1.16
Image: Richard Cartwright / CBS
#19 | Ryan Seacrest: 'American Idol'
Salary: $15 million | Ratings: 20 million
Pay per viewer: $0.75
Image: Mark Davis / Getty Images
#20 | Jennifer Lopez: 'American Idol'
Salary: $12.5 million | Ratings: 20 million
Pay per viewer: $0.63
Image: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times
#21 | Ted Danson: 'CSI'
Salary: $5 million | Ratings: 12.6 million
Pay per viewer: $0.40
Image: Michael Yarish / CBS
#22 | Christina Aguilera: 'The Voice'
Salary: $2.1 million | Ratings: 12.7 million
Pay per viewer: $0.17
Image: Lewis Jacobs / NBC
#23 | 'Snookie' Polizzi: 'Jersey Shore'
Salary: $1.2 million | Ratings: 7.6 million
Pay per viewer: $0.16
Image: Ian Spanier / MTV
#24 | Ty Burrell: 'Modern Family'
Salary: $1.1 million | Ratings: 13.3 million
Pay per viewer: $0.08
Image: Peter "Hopper" Stone / ABC
The Times looked at a select group of top stars and determined a ranking based on annual salary divided by average ratings. These numbers were determined from agency sources and reported figures.
Design and programming by Lily Mihalik. Programming by Armand Emamdjomeh.
The complete guide to home viewing
Get Screen Gab for everything about the TV shows and streaming movies everyone’s talking about.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
