My Season 6 ratings chart is complete. As predicted, the final Nielsen numbers for Wednesday’s finale were adjusted upward to include the 9 minutes the show ran after the 10 pm hour. According to Variety, “Ratings peaked in the final nine minutes…with a 36 share in 18-49 and about 39.2 million viewers overall.” The average ratings for the night were 30.7 million viewers and an 11.5 rating/31 share in adults 18-49, down 15% from Season 5’s finale ratings of 36.3 million viewers with a 14.2 rating/35 share in the key demo.
25.3 million viewers (3.7/12 share) tuned in for Tuesday’s Final 2 show, down 21% from Season 5’s Final, which had 32 million viewers and a 12.3/34 share.
It’s interesting to note that Season 6 started with 37.4 million viewers for it’s Minneapolis Auditions premiere, the highest ratings ever clocked for an Idol episode. According to the Hollywood Reporter back in January, The first five episodes of Season 6 were up 10% over the first five Season 5 telecasts in overall viewership.
When I first reported declines in early March, the mainstream media blamed them on Daylight Savings Time starting 3 weeks earlier. But, the high ratings early on followed by precipitous drops, indicated that something else was going on. What went wrong? That answer is an entirely different post. Let’s just say, TPTB needs to bring the focus back on what makes the show irresistable TV–the kids–their backstories and their struggle to advance in the competition.
Nevertheless, American Idol pulled in huge numbers by any standards. Wednesday’s edition came in as the #1 show of the season with Tuesday’s edition following at #2.
Fox won the season, thanks to Idol. According to Variety, ”Fox ended up winning the season by the largest margin of any net in five seasons, with its 4.0 rating among adults 18-49 topping CBS (3.7) by 8%, according to Nielsen.”
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I was going to make a comment after reading your entire post, but you said it for me:
Yep, that’s it! Keeping my fingers crossed for next year…
Cheeky adjusting the ratings for the over run, so they gain from people turning on for the advertised programme.
Makes you wonder if the over run was a deliberate ploy.
Yes please TPTB focus on the idols in future not promoting the lastest album/single/film release, though I suspect we will be treated to even more ‘advertising and tie ins’ with the new buy out by Fuller.
Agreed. However, I still contend that the mostly generic and, to me, boring, crop of contestants this year offered less than compelling TV viewing.
If we get some excitement back in who is competing, then I expect ratings may improve again because the show will simply be more entertaining to watch.
I don’t think that billion dollar buy out will be good news for this show. More guest stars, more tie-ins, more Elvis could be the future.
I’m hoping this year’s non-focus on the kids was the result of a rather boring bunch. They’ll need more rags to riches stories next year, more drama to keep viewers interested. I still think the bigger problem is that winning Idol no longer means anything. So Jordin won. Big Woot. What’s she getting that Blake and possibly Melinda won’t be getting either. Where’s the drama when winning means so little most of the people this year didn’t even want to win.
I blame the ratings on two things:
1. The “who cares who wins” attitude” displayed not only by the contestants but also, unfortunately by TPTB this year.
2. Somehow, between the auditions and the semis, someone sucked the personality out of the contestants. Really, Chris Sligh was really funny, and then he wasn’t. Jordin was a vivacious youngster, and then she wasn’t. Lakisha was gonna take the world by storm, and then she wasn’t. What happened? I don’t know, but the personality fairy visited AI this year and took back all of his gifts…
OF COURSE THE RATINGS ARE DOWN, SEASON 5 WAS THE BEST AND THERE WILL NEVER BE ANYTHING CLOSE TO IT. AMERICAN IDOL IS OVER!!!!!!!!