Here ya go–this week’s updated Season 6 American Idol ratings chart. And, here are the preliminary Nielsen numbers for last week:
The top 10 “Idol” contestants performed to the tune of 26.8 million viewers and a 10.4 rating/29 share at 8 p.m., according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research.
The results episode of “Idol” drew 26.9 million total viewers and a 10.9 rating/28 share in the 18-49 demo, according to final ratings from Nielsen Media Research.
During Season 5, the Wednesday results show did not outpace the Tuesday performance show until Top 5. Season 5’s Top 10 performance show drew 31.7 million viewers and a 13.0/33 share. While Season 5’s Wednesday results show drew 27.6 million viewers and an 11.3/27 share.
UPDATE AND EDIT: I just got an email from Rodney Ho He forwarded the final Nielsen numbers to me from last week:
3/27 11.0/30 28.2 MIL
3/28 10.9/28 26.9 MIL
The vote totals (as announced by Ryan Seacrest at some point during the results show) is down a whopping 33% from last year for the Top 10 show. That is a significant drop.
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uh oh
Wow.
Wow! That is a huge drop in votes from Season 5.
It looks like Season 5 saw voting increase each week of finals up to this point. Probably as people became more invested in their contestants. This year, it seems to have hit a plateau.
Also, those performance ratings are down 15% from last year. Next week will see the end of the “daylight saving’s time” excuse.
But, it’s interesting. Last week, 30 million viewers tuned in to watch the top 11 performance. This means there was an 11% drop from last week to this week. Season 5 also saw a drop in viewers between Top 11 and top 10 (all those Kevin fans tuning out?), but the drop was only 5%. Daylight savings time cannot be used an excuse here.
I think when they kick Sanjaya off the ratings will really sink. Unfortunately, that’s not a joke. He’s got all the buzz this year.
I think American Idol shot thenselves in the foot this year, by eliminating too many good singers during the audition screenings. It seems like they concentrated in picking the worst to gain ratings during the early audition shows! The result… the talent was not there by the time they got to Holywood. I don’t think is the 3 famous judges faults, but the producers/Screeners that filtered out the “talent” during the auditions!!! This may be the last year of IDOL!!! Sad..so Sad… season 5 was awesome!!!
seriously?? what do you think made them chose as they did during the auditions this year?
No rock. No country. R&B divas and boy-banders. No, thank you.
I wonder if there are any people who still believe that Season 5 was not the best season ever? (Musing here).
I think this is definitely an “off” year, but I would not write off Idol coming back in some fashion in the future.
If they can produce some great, diverse, interesting talent next year, the whole thing could rise again I feel. But if NEXT year is like THIS year, then it really will start sinking and could find they have some competition on the other networks who might smell blood in the water.
Julie, i think they wanted those early rating to claim this season was bigger than ever..and it work at the beginning, they did catch the attention of the media! Larry King, The view, every talk show talked about American Idol, and how mean the judges were… everyone tuned to watch for the first few shows and them when the talent was no longer there ratings are starting to drop! I have been an avid fan… I am almost ready to dump it from my DVR schedule.
I think they believed the choices of “experienced” contestants (Sundance, Brandon, Jordace, etc) would overcome the untalented, cute ones and all would even out as the season progressed. WRONG! Also, maybe, just maybe, the contestants just didn’t try as hard to win in light of the awarding of record deals to the lower 4th, 5th place winners from last year. jmo, of course.
I would think the ratings drop is directly related to this year’s lame crop of 24.
The judges/producers clearly had a particular musical style and image in mind when they made their selections. They wanted to return to predictable Bad Pop, and they also wanted another diva showdown after all of the Jennifer Hudson hoopla.
It’s too bad they didn’t realize that including a wide range of styles and a high level of talent gave idol credibility last year.
33% drop is sasys alot doesn’t it? I wonder if the TPTB see it as the natural lifespan of the program reaching its end or the result of a poorly selected group of candidates — not enough diversity in musical genres, as jobbix pointed out.
I find the very consistent dip in ratings and voting especially fascinating. Is this how it is going to continue? The only time ratings will go up is possibly in the finale(and maybe not then depending on who is in the finale?)
While the ratings dip may not concern Nigel now(because they are still number one). If it were to say continue at this rate, I’d be very concerned.
And the voting dip is really, really impressive considering a lot of people must be thinking what a lot of us are…that there isn’t a soul worth voting for.
Bingo!!! You win for the most perceptive comment (so far) today. :)
This is what happens when folks like Tami Gosnell, Tom Lowe, Sean Michel, Thomas Daniels, and Baylie Brown are left out of the top 24 in favor of backfiring cannon fodder like Sanjaya, Haley, Antonella, and Jared.
Say what you like people are still watching and still voting.
As long as that continues in considerable numbers, the show will go on.
Yes TPTB made some odd choices this year, but no doubt they will learn from it.
I expect record numbers to watch and pledge on the ‘charity night’, always a ratings winner in my experience.
I agree with Lisa B. I didn’t watch season 3 or 4 (other than a few episodes at the end) and I came back for last season. I did the same for The Amazing Race which was hurting a lot more than AI and it seems to be doing much better now. The Bachelor keeps coming back and it only gets around 9 million views an episode.
I’m still enjoying the show but do agree that they could have picked some more diverse singers and not bothered with some of the weaker ones.
Julie, you’ve been watching the new season?
It is really futile comparing statistics between Seasons 5 & 6. Season 5 contained the most talent and stage presence of all the seasons. Stage presence may be even more important a factor than singing ability. Season 6 is on a par with Season 3 and is excruciatingly boring. What good is talent when there is no charisma.
I think they really shot themselves in the foot by not having someone to represent the country portion of their viewers. I know a lot of people will say if you want country go watch Nashville Star but that isn’t the same. I for one enjoy a few of the contestants this year and have my favourites but it still isn’t the same not having a country singer there. I think they may have alienated a large portion of their viewers.
I think the same goes with a rocker. Last year Chris brought a lot of the rocker viewers to the show and got them to take the show a little more seriously for representing singers of all kinds and this year they just threw it out the window!
I really like this season and the contestants a lot - I’m not going to defend my love of it but I also won’t make an argument for it because I know I cannot convince people to like something they really don’t. I just chalk it up to different strokes for different folks.
I really just came to say that despite the drop in ratings, it’s still the highest rated show in America. All high-rated shows have their drops and increases. It is a more significant drop than others but it doesn’t signal the end of the show at all (and neither does Sanjaya). I’ll wait until it drops to the low 20s and teens before I can claim it’s over.
Also I may get shot for this but Season 5 is far from my favorite and given the effect it still has on people here, I can never call it my fave.
I’m not surprised. Last season a lot of people got reeeeeeeally invested early (and still are) and power-voted until the end. In my own experience (and speaking only for myself), it hurts to get so invested and then have that investment devalued.
At the end of the day, there were 4 of the top 10 who had contracts with one division of BMG or another. I’m happy for all of them, and for the 2 that signed indie deals.
But - I feel like the winner that I power-voted for last season - you, know that guy…what’s his name - is being treated like an afterthought, so why would I waste 2 hours a night and many nickels to vote for my favorite this season? They’ll just sign who they want whether they win or not.
As for the ratings, eh. I’m watching the show casually. If I miss part of an episode it’s no big deal. Last season I scheduled my life around American Idol. It’s actually kind of liberating to not feel compelled to watch. Maybe people are just taking it more casually in general and it’s not as much “must see” tv.
ETA:…
I think that may part of the reason why Haley has survived. She and Chris R are the only ones who sang anything in the country genre this season, and I don’t think anyone confuses Chris with a country singer. Haley has already said she likes country music.
Mary, that’s a brilliant point. I never thought about it that way because I never power-voted for him. I don’t know if this year will be the same with so many people getting signed (I can see only the winner being signed) but I get why you wouldn’t want to be as invested this season.
LB, indeed. I’m hearing the same from fans of other Season 5 contestants who got invested, not just fans of what’s-his-name. Maybe it’s voting fatigue of something.
I may be alone in feeling burned for getting involved in the experience in such a gung-ho fashion, but you know what they say: Fool me once - shame on them. Fool me twice - shame on me.
I think they felt they had the female equivalent of Chris Daughtry in Gina this year. A rocker chick this time. Unfortunately, she is not delivering as expected, but, if she hangs in there, she will get a highly promoted record deal with 19 and may sell a lot of copies of a “rock” oriented CD.
I do agree they have no one who might be considered country and probably could have had a decent additional audience had they included someone who sang in that style.
This year was definitely all about the pop, however, with the two r & b divas thrown in to diversify the mix, if only ever so slightly.
I don’t think there’s any doubt that a good part of the reason for the drop is the whole “Sanjaya” farce. Couple that with the loss of a lot of the “teeny-bopper” appeal, and you have a problem. My kids, my teenaged nieces have stopped watching, and while that’s not a valid statistical tool, it is something to consider.
We need to get the show back on track by voting off the “farce”. I think that you might see some people return to the show if it returns to being a singing contest instead of a sideshow.
How do you vote someone “off” the show, RealIdolFans?
I clicked your link and I can understand your perspective, but I must respectfully disagree that Sanjaya’s presence on the show is the reason (or the sole reason) that the ratings and voting are down. In fact, it may be that people are tuning in to see what all the fuss is about Sanjaya - even if it’s temporary and they soon lose interest. There are plenty of casual viewers who watch only the terrible auditions, after all.
What I think is that this group of contestants is musically less diverse than in some years. There is no country singer in the group, for example, and that’s a big demographic. I think the fact the prize doesn’t mean so much anymore makes voting less relevant.
American Idol isn’t really a just singing competition. If it were, they would pick only the best singers (like Tami Gosnel and Tommy Daniels, for example), the contestants would be judged solely on their vocals - maybe stand behind a drape where they could not be seen at all - and the audience could vote for the best singer without the distraction of performance style.
If it were just about the singing, they wouldn’t waste time with styling, group numbers, filming Ford commercials. They wouldn’t bother with personalities and back-stories. They wouldn’t bring in celebrity coaches with records or tours to pimp.
It’s a reality show and the object is to entertain, shock, or do whatever it takes to get eyeballs watching the show so their ad revenue stays in the stratosphere. They will do or use whatever they have to in order to do that.
“This is what happens when folks like Tami Gosnell, Tom Lowe, Sean Michel, Thomas Daniels, and Baylie Brown are left out of the top 24 in favor of backfiring cannon fodder like Sanjaya, Haley, Antonella, and Jared.”
I agree with that 100%. I would point out that before the Top 24 show, Sanjaya was well thought of in a non ironic way. I was actually glad he made it on the show judging from his Seattle audition. I would put him in the same category as Sundance — someone who fizzled out and didn’t live up to performance expectations.
Whatever happens, I’m sure AI as a franchise can survive a dip in ratings. As long as they bring better talent next year, the rating will recover. But if season 7’s crop is as boring as this year’s contestants, they will have some real trouble on their hands.
The show and the contestants lack personality this year. Even the judges are low key. Very weird.
Hi Masterclass Lady! Nice to see you posting. It is really “you”, right?
I have been looking at this site for a couple of weeks now and really enjoy it. However, I don’t understand why everyone thinks season 5 was the best. I read alot bout how great Taylor Hicks was but he couldn’t have been that great or his record sales wouldn’t be so sad. His album has already dropped off the charts! I liked Kat but again her sales are not terrific either. There was great talent,(chris and elliot) but it wasn’t the best singers who made it to the final 2, so what made it the best season ever?? I am still enjoying this season, and like others I think Sanjaya is joke, but as the voters we keep him there, so we need to deal with it. Personally, I am a Bo and Carrie fan, so season 4 was the best for me.
Anyway, like I said really enjoy this site, especially the recaps!
Masterclass Lady - I love reading your site. I wish the judges on the show (or the backstage vocal coaches) were as helpful as you are!
wendolyn,
I think it depends. There are plenty of fans who had a favorite season other than 5.
As for Taylor, Kat, Elliott and Chris D, I think a lot of us think there is more that determines what we like about them than just how many records they sell. There are a lot of great artists who don’t come anywhere near Gold let alone Platinum, but they’re still loved by their fans. I like Bo and Carrie too, by the way.
MJ
Nope, totally cured!! Content with reading/lurking on this board and the headlines say it all.
Now if I could only swear off chocolate as well! hah
Hi Jersey and Mary
Yes it is indeed me. Thanks for your “thumbs up” re the Vocal Masterclass articles.
Nice to post here. MJ’s BIG BLOG is a great site and womderful resource for all things Idol
MCL (MasterClassLady), I wish there were someone on the judges panel that gave the kids advice as critical and to-the-point as yours: although the show’s own coach even says that many of the kids just don’t believe they have anything to learn about the mechanics and technique of good singing.
I say this: even Bette Midler got a vocal coach — in the Eighties, long after she was a star! She used to sing her voice out every single show, but after her coach got done, she had pipes and power to spare. It saved her voice, I am sure, and that person should be knighted.
bambambam- love,love love your name.
Thank you for your kind comments. The art of singing is indeed an art. The problem is - everyone is born with the capability to sing, in varying degress, so to the novice singer, the technical care of the voice seems to be a waste of time.
But, when you hear stories similar to Bette Midler’s, you realize that, over time, poor singing diminishes and destroys the voice.
The smart ones hone their craft at the earliest stages of their career.
I imagine the pimping of the week with all the stars on it is gonna be HUGE and we’ll see a spike. When is that - the 25th? Although my hope is it will decline or flat line where it is now.
Relative to everything else on TV - it can still be claimed as the #1 show, right? If they dip below 25 million viewers though - I’d love to see the journalists have some fun with it.
I’ve stated before that I don’t think the ratings decline is that huge of a deal. Most shows peak long before Idol did (if we did indeed see a peak last season, which we won’t really know until Season 7). I did a little bit of research today, and while I don’t have the numbers to comapre exactly to what is reported in the press, DVR viewing seem to bump up the ratings 10-15%. Sometime during the season I’ll get a chance to compare apples to apples.
Even under 25 million viewers, that is still huge. It’s going to be a long, long time before this machine stops making money, which is always the point. The real change in tide will be when the networks start scheduling bigger shows against Idol instead of throwing cannon fodder against it.
I find it interesting that the vote totals are going down. You would think with all of the conspiracy theories out there that AI wouldn’t be honest about this….but apparently they are. They could be saying anything they want, and they’re not.
What’s the point in voting when they started off the season by coming out and saying it didn’t matter who won.
People will not start voting en masse again until they make winning the only way to get that big contract — you know like in the old days.
To me, this is why Season 2 will always be the best season. They scared the bleep out of the contestants and they COMPETED to win. Good times…good times…
I have only watched this season and last season, so I can’t compare to the rest of the seasons but Season 5 just had so much more personality and variety in musical styles. I think this season has some great singers but they just don’t have the variety. I hope that they can shake it up again next year.
Fox still dominates the ratings on these two night so I think we have plenty more of American Idol in our future. Look at the shows that they pair with Idol and their ratings (before Idol and with Idol) to get an accurate picture of what this show does…even with a slight slip in ratings.
I completely disagree that people aren’t voting because more than the winner gets a contract. It should make you vote even more if you have a favorite so they can get as high as possible in the contest. I think Chris Sligh will do okay but doubt most in the bottom 5-10 have a chance for a contract.
Last season wasn’t fun & games for all of us. I thought the last 3 shows were a drag.
As long as Blake goes a long way I’ll be a happy camper because other than Lakisha, I like the frontrunners.
Season 5 is not my favorite either. Sweating it out every week to see if the best vocalist, Elliott, made it through was not my idea of fun.
For the pure pleasure of watching a talent like Clay emerge, and melodious group numbers and bouncy commercials and silly backstage footage it’s Season 2 all the way. And Season 4 started the new boys vs. girls and had the rockers vs. the country gal, so that is my runner-up.
Season 5 is my number 3.
Allison says:
Other than the Elliott part, I completely agree.
bean99: I think Chris Sligh will do okay but doubt most in the bottom 5-10 have a chance for a contract.
I wouldn’t count those people out. Just from last year, 5-9 yielded signings with Clive, a division of Disney records and a well-known gospel label. Others are keeping busy working with grammy award winning songwriters, promoting big name ice cream and starring in movies. Every single person in the top 9 will have a CD out by summer.
And, don’t forget Jennifer Hudson came in 8th. I could go on and on about people who have great jobs from being on AI.
This show gives people great exposure. You don’t have to come in top 4 to get a contract or to go far. People know that so some have decided not to waste their evening voting. Plus, voting means you can’t pay attention to “House” and that would be a crime.
Of course, that probably doesn’t explain the entire massive downturn in voting this year (33%!!!!!!! yikes!). There are probably a few different reasons why people aren’t voting.
Plus, it will be interesting to see where people place. It could very well be that some people we think are very talented end up in positions 5-9 this year. So, I have hope for them.
I’m just saying that you can’t count on the bottom of the 10 getting contracts, Kirsten. If Phil, Haley, and maybe Gina are next I’m not so sure that they’ll get contracts. Sanjaya might but not for a good reason. Of course if someone like Blake, Jordin, Melinda, or Lakisha are early surprises they stand a good chance of getting signed.
Last season may be an anomaly because 2 of the weaker singers were country singers and there’s a huge market out there. Did you see Tim McGraw’s sales for last week?