So Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have more than doubled their money in signing a new ITV golden handcuffs contract, said to be worth £30m. But are the cheeky Geordie chappies actually a declining asset for ITV?
Don't get me wrong, Ant and Dec are still in the front rank of ITV's onscreen entertainment talent, fronting two of the broadcaster's most durable hits, I'm a Celebrity... and Saturday Night Takeaway.
But both of those formats are now getting pretty long in the tooth - so it's a question of what have Ant and Dec done for ITV recently?
Not so long ago pretty much anything they touched turned to ratings gold - bar the odd ill-advised sitcom revival.
But now they've handed the Gameshow Marathon presenting reins over to Vernon Kay; and their latest ITV1 venture, quizshow PokerFace, has not been as big a hit as I'm a Celeb and Takeaway.
Coming up this summer the duo are fronting Britain's Got Talent, the latest talent offering from Simon Cowell, which has every chance of being a hit.
But after that, it's up to ITV to find some new hits for the boys - who may be distracted by attempts to make it big in the US.
