Amerian Idol Ratings Continue to Falter
Fast Nielsen Overnight ratings from From Marc Berman
-Ratings Breakdown:
Fox, of course, ruled Tuesday care of American Idol, which averaged 24.21 million viewers and an 8.9 rating/23 share from 8-10 p.m. Here is the half-hour breakdown:American Idol (Fox)
8:00 p.m. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ Viewers: 21.59 million, A18-49: 7.8/22
8:30 p.m. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ Viewers: 23.78 million, A18-49: 8.6/22
9:00 p.m. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ Viewers: 26.05 million, A18-49: 9.8/24
9:30 p.m. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ Viewers: 25.42 million, A18-49: 9.6/23As good as this is, the year-ago telecast was considerably stronger at 28.44 million viewers and a 10.6/26 in the demo on March 4, 2008, based on the final nationals.
Considerably, indeed.
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52 Responses to “Amerian Idol Ratings Continue to Falter”
Even if there had been that kind of performance, if people tuned in because they wanted more, this year they wouldn’t have been able to see the same singer the next week! How is AI supposed to pick up viewers if the same people don’t perform week after week? If someone went into work last Wednesday morning raving about Allison’s performance and someone wanted to see her……..this week she did nothing but sit on a stool. Stupid!
I hope TPTB don’t take the falling ratings as a natural sign of attrition for an aging show. While some portion of it may be due to that, I think a lot more of it is due to the lack of continuity this year and as the USA Today guy said this morning (sorry I can’t remember his name) the lack of diversity in the 6 that have made it. Nothing they are doing this year encourages people to become invested in one of the kid’s dream. That is a large part of what has made this show so successful and this format totally destroyed it.
Idol needs to get the yunger generation of viewers back, and the only way to do that is to fix how “lame” it is. That’s the word everyone used to discribe it at school today. The thing is, it’s not the contestants that are lame (well, for the most part) so the blame needs to shift off of them and towards the producers. What exactly is lame? Gimmicks (Bikini Girl, Normund, Tatiana), pimping (Lil, Danny), obviously scripted conversations (“Lil Rounds, you’ll be back for many more lil rounds”). Basically, if the producers think it’s tricking people and getting them to watch, they need to stop doing it.
Personally, I don’t agree with Simon’s comment about not having enough good-looking people this season. From past experience, we’ve seen that America reacts better to nerdy- or average-looking people who have a makeover during their run on the show, but still don’t look like models. American Idol thrives on the basis that the contestants are people just like us – the viewers – who get the chance of a lifetime and become stars, if only for their time on the show. If they come in looking like one already, it takes away some of the charm. I’m just saying, I don’t think looks should be that big of a deal. The make-up crew and stylists can always fix them up.
Great post, Kirsten. I agree completely.
I just don’t think you can compare this week’s numbers to last year’s nums…totallly diff. Anyway, don’t think it matters in the long run…all media are different now. New ball game. Still luv my Idols.l Go ADAM!
When did Simon criticize the looks of the contestants? I will agree that many of them make hideous faces when singing which is quite the turn off. Great singers can make you think they’re beautiful when they’re singing. Many of the Idol folk these season look good but not when they sing.
Plus I’m getting quite the older vibe this season. Many of the top 12 will be married/and or have kids. It’s a very senior vibe and I’m not sure how many tweens are into recent widowers or moms with three kids.
Season 7 was the best no one can compare this year. However, how unfair for the people who go first. The second half gets more viewers. No wonder everyone who got the pimp spot made it.
“For reference, I checked where we were this time last season and it was the night we got Jasonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Hallelujah, David C.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Hello, and David A.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Another Day in Paradise, and a general sense that the boys were better than the girlsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦so the season storylines were starting to take shape already.”
Wow, just wow Michelle, putting into perspective like that makes me so sad to see how much I HATE this format and how much we have missed
And YES Lurksalot – I am excited to see what Adam brings
I have to say, Youtube is the reason I started watching last year. I saw a couple of the performances from the top 24 on there and I started watching religiously. I think it is a huge mistake not to let that happen this year.
I blame it on this year’s format. Last year we got “Hello” from Cook which is the exact week he became my number one contestant. This year, I feel like I don’t even know the contestants. Is anyone, besides me, missing allowing the contestants to use intruments at this point?
There were so many fantastic young guys last year for the tweens and teens to love. Who will it be this year?
I wonder what role the mansion will play in future episodes? Also, I wonder if it is equpped with a play room for the young children?
This is true and it seems like the show really want us to know that. Most of those contestants even look older than they are. How are they going to get a new audience this way? I think to grab a new audience, they need people who are younger (not just in age but in looks and the way they act) or are “cool”. This top 12 doesn’t seem to really be that cool or young. And I don’t think America likes to vote for the married ones.
I think that they got so scared when a couple of non-Idol-like personalities almost kicked out the two they did want, Jason and Brooke, they got too close for comfort with his Uke and guitar and Brooke with her instruments. They had to stop that from happening this year, I think it was just too stressful for them
Kris Allen?
They’ve lost a lot of the younger demo they had when the show was in its prime. They would have to do something dramatic to make the show more appealing to younger viewers to regain those eyeballs. And simply having contestants that appeal to that demo isn’t going to cut it. Why do you think Jive is working to get Archie the larger teen fanbase that he’s supposed to have as the cute, talented teen that he is? Because Idol failed to get him enough of those fans to start raking in the money that comes with marketing to that crowd. And if any contestant was going to bring in younger viewers, it was him. So, IMO, Idol is just getting old for the young. They’re bored with it and have moved on.
I agree with Jason succeeding in throwing a spanner into the works but I IMO, Brooke was never really that much of a threat.
It’s the new (old) format. It’s tedious.
Well another thing is that usually by now in the old format you feel at least a little comfortable with the contestants having seen them sing 3x already. You’re starting to see what they’re about, and you have a clue whether they’re consistent or not. This year we’ve seen everyone sing once, so there’s no investment yet…plus anyway, why bother caring about a contestant when there’s a good chance you’ll never see them again?
It’s like TPTB meant gimmicks and backstory when they told us they would focus more on “getting to know” contestants.
I think there are just toooooooooo many contestants and people are just bored. Crap I can’t even remember half of the contestants from last week, ok I do lol because I read mj’s blog religiously. LOL.:) We are so use to following 24 for 3 weeks and building our love for them. Instead we are stuck with a new group each week and we have to pick 3. I feel like I am at an Applebees. Out of the 36, they really could of narrowed it down to 12 really good girls and 12 really great guys. It also gives the ones that screw up (ex: Anoop, Jasmine and Matt G.) a chance to redeem themselves. The first week is always the toughest. I remember last season when I hated the girls night the first week because they sucked but they grew on me over the weeks.
I would like them to keep the wildcard thing and just let America bring one more person back. Maybe a top 13, lol. Please bring Nigel back, idol needs him so bad.
No you are not the lone stranger.
Not knowing the contestants and not watching them grow takes away one of the most beautiful things that Idol has to offer. For example David Cook started out as a cute bad boy rocker guy that turned into a gorgeous man that oozes charisma that can sing anything.
And the lack of instruments is making the show seem more karaoke like instead of giving the contestants a chance to perform in a real world setting. Last year they searched for natural artistry, and this year they are searching for a pre-packaged pop-tart. But Idol is not the only ones in the music industry shoving pop-tarts in our faces. Most of the music industry has been watered down as a whole.
But I feel that the show will get better once we get to see some of the final 12 contestants perform more than once.
Yes, it will be nice to have the same contestants every week, but I’m afraid they will be less polished than previous years since they all have not performed regularly in the semis. Maybe the wildcard winners will have a slight edge.
I miss them. Yeah, it removes their “crutches” to focus just on their vocal ability, but it also removes a big part of their musical identity. I’m not getting this decision at all.
Personally, I’m not vested in any of these guys.
the positive it is UP in ratings. I dont care about last year.
The judges are not good enough actors to hide their boredom, annoyance, petty rivalries and overall
bad attitudes. This is contagious and has contributed to the overall bad vibe of S8.
I remember in Season One that Simon was desperately worried that the wrong person would win. Now all he seems to care about is not being bored. Unless things improve the musings after this season will not be if a particular contestant broke Idol. It will be that Idol broke Idol.
I agree with Sounscene ^^^re: the young are bored and moved on. I’m an “old” that moved on sorta. Except I visit this blog. I’m going to watch the show after the top 12 are determined. I don’t think Simon is to blame…I think it’s collective and I don’t think any of us really know how it all plays out. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Simon didn’t want half of the pool remaining in the first place….
Most of the people I know are bored and have moved on. Plus, the internet is their friend. They know Danny and Adam just from running across their name on the internet and checking out youtube. One saw Allison on some show and listened to her performance on youtube (which is doing so amazing by the way) But they don’t want to sit through a 2 hour show for 1 or 2 performances they can check out afterwards.
There are way too many people. The Old format was better. I felt like I knew them better. Plus, for all the proclaimed changes, it looks and feels the same. They needed something fun. Should have picked fewer contestants, had a flashier stage, maybe had some sing offs along with them singing a full song. I liked the longer time with the judges. They were actually entertaining last night.
Bottom line. It’s too formal. Too structured.
About the youtube videos, last year I didn ´t watch Idol, until a friend send me a video of Archie ´s Imagine, and after taht I saw all the videos in youtube before tunning in… I guess having the videos on youtube does help to a contestant to get more attention… I have know other peà ²ple that alse arrive later to AI but decided to watch the program because of the youtube videos…