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I have been watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show for quite a long time. Simply a heart-warming show that touches people's lives in many ways.

I know the show has plenty of sponsors but giving a $100,000 cheque and frequent cash donations, hotel stays, show tickets, gifts etc. for all audience and staff members seems way too expensive.

The only questions which intrigues me is that how does she manage such splendid giveaways on her show every now and then.

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  • You say "seems way too expensive" -- based on what? It's a show with great ratings, brands love to be associated with it,.. Things like $100,000 cheques are great when it's sweeps, exactly the kind of stunt that draws viewers and gives good press. I don't see the problem WRT the budget. You're talking about an industry that has phenomenons like gifting suites.
    – BCdotWEB
    Commented May 28, 2015 at 20:05
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    According to paywizard.org, she makes $70m a year. A large chck, seemingly generous once in a while, is good publicity, and easily affordable for her.
    – wbogacz
    Commented May 28, 2015 at 20:28
  • Compare to the (in my head) huge amount HBO must be spending on Last Week Tonight for graphics, costuming, etc... it's all relative.
    – Catija
    Commented May 28, 2015 at 20:42
  • All of you asking these questions because you're not comfortable with the fact that brands are using the name of charity for exposure and promotion?? You're ok with brands using other means?? When you see charity...just dont be against it. It's not like we can do better.. And we know everything is commercialised.atleast this way..some less fortunate people benefits..
    – user32715
    Commented Mar 25, 2016 at 5:24
  • All donations from the companies are tax deductable plus free advertisement . So do your math :)
    – Alex
    Commented Nov 26, 2016 at 3:23

2 Answers 2

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I don't know about the cash gifts, but giving away products and services is a form of advertising for the company, so companies provide the product or service to Ellen's show in exchange for Ellen mentioning their brand name is positive way. The benefit to Ellen is that she gets to give her guests free stuff, so they like her more and they like the show more. The benefit to the guests is that they get free stuff. It's sort of win-win-win (except you have to listen to Ellen pitch the brand of the day).

My personal example is that I was in Ellen's audience, and they gave us all some Hanes underwear. Ellen announced the brand name "Hanes" several times during the show, in a positive light. We were all excited to be getting something (even though it was just underwear), and I'm sure a lot of us talked about it with our friends afterwards.

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  • Yes, but this doesn't address the cash, which was the main point of the question.
    – Catija
    Commented May 28, 2015 at 19:38
  • @Catija You're right. I'll alter my question just to clarify. Thanks.
    – BrettFromLA
    Commented May 28, 2015 at 20:38
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Ellen does not personally give away a single thing on her show. Not a single gift comes from her, not a single dollar comes from her. Every gift of cash or products is given by sponsors.

That's not saying that she doesn't make personal donations to her favorite charities. I'm sure she must. It's just that on her show she doesn't give away anything. In fact, she seems to use her show as an advertisement for her app, her clothing line, and the Ellen store.

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    Do you have evidence that it's 100% sponsor money and not the shows own ad money or Ellen occasionally funds the gifts? You seem rant-y
    – cde
    Commented Feb 23, 2016 at 1:09
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    Any evidence or any interview or soemthing which supports your claim.
    – Panther
    Commented Feb 23, 2016 at 3:17

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