If Shakespeare was alive today, he would be richer than Simon Cowell.

Cowell was named this week as the highest paid man on primetime US TV, raking in $75m (£45m) last year, for his work on American Idol and as creator of America’s Got Talent. That’s not even including his work on UK TV- such as the X Factor, which is currently raking in record audiences. But if Shakespeare was still around, it’s likely he would be earning far more than that.

It would be a fairly safe bet that every day, or at least every week, a Shakespeare play is performed somewhere around the world, and Shakespeare is a regular part of English and theatre studies at schools and universities. And then there’s all the spin-off merchandise, from numerous book editions to fridge magnets proclaiming Shakespearean insults.

There is a particularly fruitful Shakespeare period going on right now, from David Tennant’s Hamlet at the RSC to Jude Law’s Hamlet in London (which was a sell-out in the West End and is now receiving similarly rave reviews on New York’s Broadway)- and now Lenny Henry’s Othello, currently in London. Henry, a comedian who is new to Shakespeare, is wowing audiences with his interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s darkest and most complex characters, and has recently been nominated for an Evening Standard theatre award for most outstanding newcomer.

In Shakespeare’s day, his plays were the X Factor entertainment of the time, with everyone from Royals to street sweepers enjoying the drama, with audiences booing, catcalling, throwing things at the stage (presumably not the Royals, but who knows?!), or laughing and clapping- making their feelings known in the same way as people do today, when they phone in to save the far more inexplicably popular Jedward on the X Factor.

It’s good to see Shakespeare still holding his own after 400 years, and packing out theatres despite the ongoing Saturday night entertainment juggernaut that is Simon Cowell. Jedward or Hamlet? Cowell or Shakespeare? No contest.