Despite shedding million of viewers as the show became more and more complex and confusion, Lost still has an intense following of fans who would rather bleed to death than miss an episode.

ABC’s using this information to their advantage.

The show finale is supposed to air during a three hour block on May 23.  ABC is seeking $850,00 to $950,000 for 30 seconds of ad time.  According to Advertising Age, “During last year’s upfront, a 30-second spot for Lost was selling for an average of $213,563, according to Advertising Age’s annual survey of ad costs in prime-time broadcast shows. At $900,000 a spot, ABC is clearing a markup north of 400% from advertisers who didn’t reserve their time in the show last year.”

Of course ABC executives have declined further comment.

The cost is hefty, but not nearly as high as those in the past.

 The finale of Friends pulled in $1.5 million to $2.3 million for a 30 second ad and advertising during the Oscars cost $400,000 to $600,000 more than what they’re asking for for Lost’s finale.  The $900,000 price would still cost more than any of the top ten most expensive programs from last year.

What the cost does indicate is that advertisers are willing to pay more for event programming.  In an age where people can watch shows whenever they want to thanks to DVR, online streaming, and DVDs, advertisers find it increasingly difficult to show to the target numbers they’re looking for.  Large events (the Oscars, Super Bowl Sunday, etc.) grab the attention of large amounts of viewers which get ads shown, and the larger the event, the steeper the price.

With Lost’s devoted fan base, you can bet the amount of viewers will be well worth the advertising price.