Here’s yer updated Season 6 Ratings chart.
Preliminary ratings from the Hollywood Reporter for Week 8:
American Idol was the night’s top show in all key demographics, with Nielsen estimating 27.8 million viewers and a 10.9 rating/29 share in adults 18-49. That’s up 4% in viewership and 3% in the demo compared to the same week last year.
The performance “Idol” featuring the remaining eight female contestants drew 28.5 million viewers and 11.1 rating/30 share among adults 18-49, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research.
“Idol” walked to an easy victory at 8 p.m…American Idol (27.4 million, 10.3/28) adults 18-49.
Check out Season 5 ratings for a comparison:
Tue (Top 8 Girls) 28.5 mill 11.8/31
Wed (Top 8 Guys) 30.3 mill 12.4/32
Thu (Top 16 Results) 27.1 mill 10.8/28
My source for Season 5 numbers is TV Week.com. According to their figures (they quote Nielsen, just like the Hollywood Reporter) is that Tuesday and Wednesday’s ratings are down this year, Thursday’s are up by just a smidgen.
Whatever ratings increase Season 6 started out with over Season 5 at the beginning of the season seems to have dropped back. The comparisons are fun, aren’t they? Heh.
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Thanks for finding that stuff for us mj.
The little drop in ratings does not surprise me in the slightest with the crowd we have this year.
Already it is way less interesting than last year and I forsee a future drop-off as well. I can’t imagine the audience will increase, but it is possible my crystal ball is malfunctioning right now.
The ratings are still better than anything out there so I doubt a tiny drop is that big of a deal.
This season is done for me for all intents and purposes. Divas and boy banders just ain’t doing it for me.
Interesting! I do wish the judges had advanced a greater variety of singers. Last year it seemed there was something for everyone, country, rock, blues…..big & sexy…and extensiony….and wardrobe malfunctiony…
This year we have a beat boxer that I hope stops beat boxing, a tepid Michael Jackson wannabe (can you be more tepid than Michael Jackson?), and some other souls that I hope start showing more individuality soon.
That said, I do love two of those divas, Lakisha and Melinda. Oh, and the other diva, Chris S.
These are pretty tiny drops–we’ll have to see how the rest of the season goes. MJ, do you know if these ratings are live only ratings, or do they include DVR playback? DVR penetration has gone up quite a bit over the past year and is expected to hit 25% by the the end of this year.
If these are live only ratings, I would expect that adding in 24 hour or 7 day playback (the other two data streams available) would propel the numbers to at least equal to last year’s.
jokiebird: These are pretty tiny drops–we’ll have to see how the rest of the season goes.
What I find interesting is that there appears to be no drop in the ratings between Top 8 Girls Night between the two years. It’s the Boys who took the big hit with an 8.3% drop.
Often, it’s trends that are the most important. So far, let’s just look at the performance nights:
2005/2006
Top 12 Boys - 31.7 : 29.5 : -6.9%
Top 10 Boys - 29.6 : 30.7 : +3.7%
Top 8 Boys - 30.3 : 27.8 : -8.2%
Top 12 Girls - 30.2 : 30.5 : +0.9%
Top 10 Girls - 30 : 29.8 : -0.5%
Top 8 Girls - 28.5 : 28.5 : 0 %
So, the Girls have held pretty consistent with last year while the Boys have not.
jokiebird: MJ, do you know if these ratings are live only ratings, or do they include DVR playback?
I believe that they do not include DVR playback (or that by conventional VHS). The ratings are a measure of how many people watched the ads so that they can set their rates. Few people watch ads when they are watching it on their DVR/VHS.
I think the voting trend is troublesome for the show as well. If people want to vote for two hours, they will want to watch the show live. If one is not voting, one may not mind watching the show an hour later or the next day. The voting gimmick is what gets a lot of people sitting in front of their television sets at the appointed time.
It is interesting to me that the talent difference between girls and boys only adds up to a million viewers. In general, the viewers seem to be hanging on for better or for worse.
Kirsten: I work for Nielsen so I’m aware of what the ratings are. :-) We produce three streams of data on the National side–live, live plus same day, and live plus seven. VHS is ALWAYS included in the ratings–a show being taped is currently counted as being viewed “live” because we didn’t have the technology to determine VCR playback for many, many years.
At least on the local side (not sure about the national side, which is where these numbers came from), the Live Plus Seven is the official currency of the advertising business. Advertisers prefer live numbers for the reason you stated (the suspicion that ads are skipped), but broadcasters prefer live plus because the numbers are higher.
The research is mixed right now as to whether “few” people watch ads when they have a DVR. There is some evidence that ad recall is actually HIGHER when speeding through the ads, because you have to pay attention to them to know when to hit the play button again.
Edited: I didn’t just write this post to come off as a know it all (I hope it didn’t sound like that). My point was, the viewership may actually be higher than it was last year when you count playback. You have to assume that nowhere near 100% of viewers vote (I don’t, at least not yet this season) so DVRs probably aren’t impacting the voting. That’s one advantage of American Idol over other shows; they probably won’t lose as much viewing to playback as other shows do because of the live aspect. It doesn’t mean it’s not a significant number, just not as high as other shows.
Crude I keep losing my post. Trying again:
Here is another site that backs MJ’s Season 5 numbers:
They post the last year and this year’s ratings for the week.
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/ratings.aspx?id=tuesday
Since I am a visual person, here is a quick graph of the rating comparisons:
http://thumbsnap.com/v/70m7P6PW.jpg
jokiebird: VHS is ALWAYS included in the ratings–a show being taped is currently counted as being viewed “live” because we didn’t have the technology to determine VCR playback for many, many years.
Interesting. I did not know that. It’s always great when we can get the scoop from somebody on the inside. Thanks!
I am curious as to how many people are voting this year as compared to last year. Are the number of votes made public?
What really hard for me to imagine is the top ten from this years show drawing crowds for a summer tour.