Judge Judy Sheindlin is earning $47 million for her syndicated daytime television show "Judge Judy."
What makes Sheindlin's salary so high?
For one thing,
Ratings for the past month show "Judge Judy" averaging between 8-9 million viewers. That's a lot of eyeballs compared to other regularly syndicated shows.
From the most recent TV ratings, 3 million tuned into "Dr. Phil" while an old episode of CBS' big ratings winner "The Big Bang Theory" had 9.4 million viewers.
When it comes to late-night TV ratings, "Judge Judy" demolishes the competition.
Here's a look at some of the most recent late-night numbers.
"The Tonight Show": 3.8 million
"The Late Show with David Letterman": 2.2 million
"Jimmy Kimmel Live!": 2.2 million
"Late Night with Jimmy Fallon": 1.8 million
Since many of those numbers were from repeat episodes, here's a sample of ratings from May 13-17:
"The Tonight Show": 3.6 million
"The Late Show with David Letterman": 2.7 million
"Jimmy Kimmel Live!": 2.4 million
"Late Night with Jimmy Fallon":1 .8 million
Not much of a difference.
Advertising is another huge factor for Sheindlin's salary.
TV Guide reports that according to Kantar Media "Judge Judy" brought in $230 million in advertising in 2012.
According to TV Guide, the show is also syndicated in 100 foreign markets.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is that the celebrity judge gets paid a phenomenal amount for working such a relatively short time.
According to a 2010 USA Today profile, Sheindlin only works 52 days a year.
Do the math and that's more than $903,846 per work day which puts her above Ashton Kutcher who earns a reported $750,000 per episode for "Two and a Half Men."