With its 8 million+ weekly viewers aka “Gladiators,” ABC’s Scandal has unsurprisingly been renewed for a third season, while Grey’s Anatomy is going strong toward its tenth.
The creator of both hit shows Shonda Rhimes shared the great news Friday via Twitter:
Starring Kerry Washington , the history-making political drama series not only boasts a 68% gain in viewers from last year, but also continues to rank as the #1 most social series, with a 40% advantage over #2 American Idol.
Shonda, who earned $12 million this year, is ABC/Disney’s top money maker in the drama department.
Scandal and Grey’s bring in $13 million in ad revenue each week for the network and account for nearly $300 million dollars in revenue each season.
She will be profiled in the May 27, 2013 issue of Forbes Magazine as one the few Black “showrunners” working in television today that has enjoyed lasting success, but she remains humble:
“It’s not like I’ve got this power so I’m going to stomp around doing whatever I want. The power is that the network trusts me.”