American Idol Gives Back Gets Cash

Last night's episode of American Idol - called "American Idol Gives Back" - promised to be the biggest and best ever. The highly-touted two-hour, star-studded gala was supposed to bring us all together to fight hunger, poverty, and AIDS. The last hour that I saw was emotional enough, with moving testimonies of poverty and despair. Sponsors included Ford, News Corp, Exxon Mobil, and numerous other giants. Your votes for AI contestants brought pledges from these corporations.

But forgive me for being unmoved by the whole thing. Don't get me wrong; Ellen DeGeneres' $100,000 pledge was impressive enough, and I'd love to see more people giving to those in need. But something struck me. At the end of the night, Ryan Seacrest announced that they had raised just under $30 million.

I just ran the numbers, and by my rough estimate, $30 million is roughly equal to (and possibly less than) the yearly salary of the executive committee of News Corp alone, much less that of all of the other companies and stars who contributed to the show.

Now, consider the fact that a 30-second commercial on AI costs $750,000. With roughly 8 commercials for each break and 8 - 12 commercial breaks throughout the night, FOX is making at least $48 - $72 million in commercials alone, not to mention the money they're making from Ford and Coca-Cola for various promotions throughout the show.

I'm thankful for some of the issues that were brought to light during this show. I'm glad nearly $30 million was raised. But let's be serious. FOX wasn't simply using their huge audience to fight for a good cause. That may have happened along the way, but at the end of the day, FOX got very rich and a number of large corporations were able to put on a good face for a fairly small price. American Idol really didn't give that much back.

UPDATE: According to a radio report this morning, the total raised has now been listed as $60 million (or closer to the salaries of the executive committees of News Corp AND Ford). It doesn't change the way I feel about the whole thing, but it's worth mentioning as a matter of fact.