ETA: Entertainment Weekly is reporting Idol had an average of 20.7m viewers last night. The numbers are down 26% from last year…
Season 7, the comparable episode (Top 20 results, also on a Thursday) had 26.2M viewers and a 9.1/24 rating in the key demo.
The programming insider breaks the numbers down further. From 8-8:30, Idol averaged 19.4M viewers, the numbers increased at 8:30-9pm to 21.9M:
ABC 8:00 1.8/5 6, 676, 000 UGLY BETTY
CBS 8:00 3.8/11 11, 920, 000 SURVIVOR
NBC 8:00 1.4/4 3, 991, 000 KUNG FU PANDA: SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE (S)
FOX 8:00 6.5/19 19, 433, 000 AMERICAN IDOL (S)
CW 8:00 0.7/2 2, 113, 000 SMALLVILLE (R)
ABC 8:30 2.0/5 6, 898, 000 UGLY BETTY
CBS 8:30 4.1/11 12, 647, 000 SURVIVOR
NBC 8:30 1.5/4 3, 448, 000 KATH & KIM
FOX 8:30 7.5/20 21, 890, 000 AMERICAN IDOL (S)
CW 8:30 0.7/2 2, 091, 000 SMALLVILLE (R)
Idol moving to Thursday was bad news for it’s competition:
From TV by the Numbers:
Thanks to the Presidential Address on Wednesday, American Idol visit to 8pm Thursday was unwelcome by Survivor which was down about 10% in the demos from last week, and even less so by Ugly Betty which was down about 20% for its lowest original airing ever. My kids love the Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five short movie, but it went nearly unwatched. Kath & Kim was nearly as invisible at 8:30, hitting a series low.
