From Mediaweek’s Programming Insider:
As expected, it was a huge overnight victory for Fox on this third Tuesday of 2008, with the seventh season-premiere of American Idol at an 18.6 rating/27 share from 8-10 p.m. Comparably, that outdelivered the second highest rated show of the evening, CBSà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ NCIS (10.2/15), by a hefty 82 percent. But year-to-year, American Idol actually dipped by 15 percent from its sixth season-opener on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007 (21.8/31). So, at this point it is safe to say that American Idol has officially peaked.
I’ll post more specific numbers as they come in…
As expected, it was a huge victory for Fox on this third Tuesday of 2008, with the seventh season-premiere of American Idol at a hefty 33.24 million viewers and a 13.8 rating/32 share among adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m. Comparably, that more than doubled the second most-watched show of the evening, CBSà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ NCIS (Viewers: 15.91 million). But year-to-year, American Idol actually dipped by 4.20 million viewers and 13 percent among adults 18-49 from its sixth season-opener on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007 (Viewers: 37.44 million; A18-49: 15.8/36). So, at this point it is safe to say that American Idol has officially peaked.
Everybody is reading tea leaves…LOL. I don’t know. I think it’s just the lingering effect of season 6. It may take a few weeks to get S6 out of the system. The show can rebound with a strong pool of talents. But if last night was any indication, I didn’t see any standout.
I agree. They may have opened their mouths once too many times about their past contestants.
Someone on this board made a really good suggestion: Idol should do a week blitz. Show all the auditions in one week, Mon-Friday or Tues-Sat and then begin weekly broadcasts with Hollywood week, which is the most interesting, and the eliminations. Then go into the finals on a weekly basis. 20 weeks is too d***n long folks. In their quest to milk it for everything — they have shows that are too long; the results show should only be 1/2 hour not one hour.
Even Patti Labelle’s Clash of the Choir was one week blitz. So reality shows can be done in one week. But you know the TV higher-ups, they want the traditional way of doing things. But doing it traditionally will harm the show.
I thought last night was OK, it was the same-o, I didn’t expect anything revealing. But they also need to get a different spokesperson than Ryan. He looked scruffy, he didn’t have much to do, and he looked tired.
Snuffles I maybe wrong on that count too the second set of numbers do have both the age rang and overall over 30million. Thier are soo many numbers out there hard to keep track of what is what. I guess the only ones looking deeply are the producers. American Idol has no competition at all unless some other reality show comes along and is fresh and new and grabs the audiances attention .
You know, Paula, though I’m a Taylor fan first and foremost, it’s not “just” that they have treated him so poorly, they don’t have ANY right to put down ANY of the winners OR THE AUDIENCE WHO VOTES! THEY chose the ones that America voted for, so if a particular contestant wasn’t worthy of America’s votes, then who the hell is to blame for THAT? THEY are!
PERIOD.
I can’t repeat it enough — they need BIG STARS TO MAKE IT TO THE FINALS. The audience likes to know they helped create a really big star!
And let’s not even mention Season 6, I’m tired of people beating up on Season 6. Season 6 is not the culprit! They need to produce a big star. And rotate the judges and the host.
You know, Paula, though Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m a Taylor fan first and foremost, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“justà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ that they have treated him so poorly, they donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have ANY right to put down ANY of the winners OR THE AUDIENCE WHO VOTES! THEY chose the ones that America voted for, so if a particular contestant wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t worthy of Americaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s votes, then who the hell is to blame for THAT? THEY are!
PERIOD.
————————-
PERFECTLY WORDED!
Opps–forgot to credit Desdemona for the previous quote!
Thank you, Chrissy. As for Melanie – I just have this feeling she’ll have an albatross around her neck, simply because she was backup singer for that loser, Taylor who-never-should-have-won Hicks.
ETA: Chrissey – not to worry – I should get off my soapbox now anyway and just lurk. I enjoy reading others’ take on things regardless of how I feel.
ETA again: I missed this if it was already posted in headlines:
Making History all over again and rewiting it a little, too
I agree with everyone who says S6 is partly to blame. After all, the only reason S6 ratings were so high to start with was because S5 ended with a bang, and it left viewers wanting more. In order for S7 to secure the raitings AI is used to, they are going to need to offer more, and showcase more talent. I’ve got my fingers crossed, last night wasn’t *that* bad, so there is hope for S7
I was pleasantly surprised at last night’s show as there was not as much time spent ridiculing contestants!
I was also not surprised in the least to see prominent pics of Jordin behind the judges and auditioners – after all she won the previous year. From what I recall, that is how they have done it every year EXCEPT last year when they made sure not to show Taylor at all or speak his name unless in a derogatory manner (save for the fact he was featured in the intro part of the show last year). And the same treatment of Taylor continued last night. The blatant ignoring of a past winner who was put in the top 24 by THEM is what makes the show such a joke to me. I did cave in and vote for Phil, Mel and Blake last year, but I will not vote again. I will watch for entertainment only.
At work where Idol used to be discussed daily – not one word. Maybe interest will pick up but TPTB ruined last year and I do think Season 6 had a very talented group so it makes me sad for them.
I think often about the fact that most of the country doesn’t follow the Idols on the internet or their sales numbers, and some must think it strange that the show doesn’t even support all it’s own winners or runner-ups for that matter. Kinda sad it can’t support them all. How fun it would be to have all the winners back each year instead of seeing Carrie (who I like) 3 times in one season – bet we will be seeing alot of her this season too – we will see – JMO of course.
ETA: It would be fun to see about any of the other seasons’ top 12 compared to seeing Carrie so many times in one season IMO.
Does not suprise me at all, Look at the way they treat the winners of AI. Season 5 of AI was the first and the last for me. GO TAYLOR HICKS!!!!!
But it is not about ratings. It is about units.
I’m not too surprised at the numbers being lower because maybe people are telling them that they’re sick of watching the auditions. Bad singing gets old fast imo. I don’t think we can say they didn’t have any competition because most of the shows they were up against were new shows. I wonder who Tivo will impact these early episodes before voting comes into it? We’re just watching now although we’re fast forwarding through much of it.
Don’t forget that DVR penetration has grown upwards of 22% since Nielsen started measuring timeshifted viewing in 2005. So you’re not even comparing apples to apples, really, if you’re only looking at live data across the seven seasons.
The official currency is the Live Plus data, not the Live data. On a national level, Live, Live Plus Same Day and Live Plus Seven Days numbers are produced. In the local markets it’s Live and Live Plus Seven. The Live Plus Seven numbers won’t be released until a week from today. I am expecting to see at least a few ratings points added once that data is available. No one can say it’s a drop until those numbers come out.
Not at all surprised by the numbers for last night’s show, watched and was unusually bored, too much filler, too few good singers, silly back stories ” I sold my horse and am a cage fighter to boot!, lol. When even Simon looks frightfully bored and uninvolved, , why should the viewer be interested?
AMEN! That “America got it wrong” bull that Nigel, Clive, and Simon have been spouting is a direct slap in the face to every single American that has voted–not only for Taylor, but for ANY of the contestants. I’m shocked (well, not really
) that they haven’t wised up to the fact that insulting a huge chunk of the audience won’t help your ratings.
TPTB simply need to put on their big girl panties and deal with the FACT that Taylor won, and deservedly so.
I also want to give major props to the editor who made sure that Melanie’s POSITIVE words about Taylor were included in the show last night. Maybe there’s someone behind the scenes that’s on our side after all.
I have to say that I don’t get the AI is dissing Taylor vibe based on what I’ve seen thus far. His mugshot is directly behind Simon and since the camera tends to focus on Simon, Taylor was consistently in view for most of the evening.
What really surprises me, though, is that season 5 is still hashed over so thoroughly…and it is now Season 7 and a full 2 years after the fact.
Oh well. I’ve enjoyed the auditions thus far and await to see what happens down the road…
I read the guidelines, MJ. I think I’m okay with my comments. If not, feel free to delete. I’m trying your blog again after an extended hiatus.
“His mugshot is directly behind Simon and since the camera tends to focus on Simon, Taylor was consistently in view for most of the evening.
You need to watch Simon closely – he gives Taylor’s mugshot the stinkeye at every opportunity.
hello??? writer’s strike, anyone??? less people in general watching tv and flipping through the channels means lower ratings across the board.
the only programming that’s exempt is big game sports.
otherwise, for AI to pull in those ratings is still not too shabby.