Final Wednesday 'American Idol' premiere ratings
It took only took nights and four hours of American Idol to move FOX into first place for the season.
The second night of American Idol, this one featuring auditions from Dallas, averaged 30.4 million viewers and a 12.6 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic. Those Final Live + Same Day National Ratings were off by 3 million viewers and 1.2 demographic ratings points from Tuesday's premiere.
As I observed in my analysis of Tuesday's ratings, Idol dropped only 600,000 viewers between the first and second nights last year. As retention goes, that's insane. The 3 million fall was actually better than the 3.9 million Tuesday-to-Wednesday drop from two years ago and many times better than the 6.9 million drop in 2005.
The first Wednesday (Jan. 16) of the Idol season also delivered an 11.0 rating among adults 18-34 and and 11.7 rating among teens, down from a 12.9 and 12.3 rating the night before.
The best news, if you happen to be FOX, at least, is that thanks to two nights of American Idol and the solid two-night premiere of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the network's 18-49 average for the season is now a 3.4 rating, inching out of a multi-network logjam and into first place.
FOX's normal spring comeback came a little earlier this year than previously thanks to a dramatically reduced postseason baseball schedule in October plus a World Series that was short, but featured the ratings-friendly Boston Red Sox.
The network can now look forward to reaping the benefits of five more months of Idol, plus a little sporting event called the Super Bowl.
Post a comment