Oprah’s Last Show 30-Second Spots Going for $1 Million

You have to really pay to play when it comes to a 30-Second Spot on Oprah’s last show.

Advertisers looking to place spots on Oprah Winfrey’s May 25 sign-off will have to come up with at least $1 million, the current asking price for a 30-second spot.

Depending on placement within the show, some buyers will likely shell out even more, according to the Hollywood Reporter, who calls it a “jaw-dropping sum, particularly for daytime fare.”

But it’s not the first time Madison Avenue has been asked to break the bank for ad time in TV’s hotly-anticipated finales.

According to a list culled by Horizon Media’s Brad Adgate, using Nielsen Co. and Kantar Media data, ad buyers were forced to shell out double that for a spot on “Friends’” farewell, which drew an even more staggering 52.5 million viewers in 2004.

Six years earlier, a spot in Seinfeld’s final episode set advertisers back $1.42 million. But for that price, they got the opportunity to reach 76.3 million, an unheard of sum outside of events like the Super Bowl in today’s fractured landscape.

“Everybody Loves Raymond” spots were similarly pricey, with a 30-second ad buy in the May 2005 finale fetching $1.22 million. In return, an audience of 32.9 million tuned in to see Ray Romano and his cast bid farewell.

Five other pricey :30 finale spots:

Lost (2010): $900,000

X-Files (2002): $679,700

24 (2010): $650,000

Cheers (1993): $650,000

Ally McBeal (2002): $582,600

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