In the world of reality tv programmes there are several dedicated to finding the new voice, pop star and singing sensation. Millions of hopefuls apply, thousands then attend auditions and then the chosen few who are lucky enough to get through all these hoops and hurdles find themselves on national television week after week, entertaining the masses.
With only one winner every season the very, very lucky ones might just find themselves with a recording contract. But how many of these stars are still around the following year? Unfortunately the answer is unlikely to be more than a handful worldwide. Yet these competitions go on year after year all over the world.
Our infographic looks at this hugely profitable business, and explains where all the money goes, as the stars themselves rarely see very much of it. The biggest percentage goes to the record labels belonging to the shows' producers, with the winning contestants getting less than 2.5 percent of the album sales. Ryan Malcolm, the winner of Canadian Idol's season one, earned just over $21,000 from his album sales.
Simon Fuller, the creator and mastermind of the show, earns $1.5 million for each episode. In fact only lawyers and the person responsible for mixing the song get paid less than the performer from album sales.
It isn't surprising that the producers are constantly creating more programmers as by granting recording contracts to the winners they reap all the benefits. Nevertheless there are still millions of people still hoping to make it big every year.
