30-second spots going for $1.3 million

There's the Super Bowl, and there's the Oscars. And next, apparently, there's the "American Idol" finale.

The first two are typically the most-watched events on television in a given year, and as such command the highest prices for a 30-second commercial. "Idol" is entering that stratospheric range as well: The magazine Ad Age reports that ads on the singing competition's May 24 finale will cost as much as $1.3 million each.

The seven-figure price tag is more than double what advertisers are paying to hawk their products during "American Idol" in a given week (just under $500,000 per ad on the Tuesday performance show and about $518,000 for the Wednesday results). But given the FOX show's huge ratings, the premium price for the finale isn't too out of whack.

Ads during ABC's Oscar telecast cost a reported $1.7 million this year. For that price, buyers got their stuff seen by an average of 38.9 million viewers (down some from recent Academy Awards shows).

So far this season, "Idol" is averaging 30.7 million viewers over its two nights, a 14-percent jump compared to last season. Last year's season-ender drew about 30.3 million people; if this year's ratings bump carries through to the finale, that would mean an audience of about 34.5 million viewers. A vast number of those viewers will likely fall into the under-50 demographics that advertisers try so hard to reach.

Ad Age also reports that NBC will likely charge a premium to advertise on the series finales of "Will & Grace" and "The West Wing." Neither show has near the ratings of its peak years, but they may get a nice goodbye bump when they bow out in May. ABC is also expected to rake in some extra cash during the two-hour finales of its hit dramas "Grey's Anatomy," "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost."

The Super Bowl remains the undisputed king of TV, in terms of both ratings and ad rates. This year's game, on ABC, averaged better than 90 million viewers and commanded $2.5 million per 30-second ad.