I got a tip about an American Idol survey iCount just sent out to members. It appears that the show may not be over entirely when the 15th winner in Idol’s “final” season is crowned. Producers are already gauging interest in whether fans would come back to idol after it was off the air for a while. There were also questions regarding American Idol streaming online.
Here’s a bulleted summary of the survey questions:
- What are the most and least important parts of the show. Rating: Live performance shows, live results shows, Ryan Seacrest as host, celebrity judges, theme weeks, contestant backstories.
- If the show were to come back how could it be improved? There were options to make suggestions for the Audition Round, Hollywood Week, Performance Shows, Results Shows, and Finale.
- Willingness to watch a future season of American Idol if it came back in less than a year, a year, 2-3 years, or 5 years (the increments may be off). Would a long break between seasons heighten or lessen excitement?
- Questions about who should return: Listed the current judges, Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr. and host Ryan Seacrest
- Interest in watching American Idol on a different viewing platform, followed by a question regarding which streaming platform the user was subscribed to: Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime.
- Willingness to pay for cable to watch Idol, plus questions about premium channels such as HBO/Showtime, etc.
- If all of the Audition/Hollywood week episodes were released on the same day on a streaming platform in advance of live performance shows, how interested would the user be in watching those episodes at their convenience prior to the live performance shows.
- Interest in watching American Idol on YouTube
Very interesting, indeed. American Idol is a brand. Once the show’s run ends on FOX next May, it could be marketed to different platforms, networks or cable. I also find it interesting TPTB are already thinking about possibly bringing it back after a rest, but not necessarily to FOX or network television.
ETA: American Idol owners, Core Media, were set to merge with Endemol/Shine, which produces other reality shows like Big Brother and Biggest Loser. Idol has been a drag on Core Media’s valuation the past couple of years. As mentioned in comments, they could be gathering information in order to sell the property to another company. In any case, this survey has nothing to do with FOX. It’s about the American Idol brand and how to leverage it–whether to market it on another platform, eventually bring it back in some capacity, or to sell it off to another entity.
If anybody happened to fill out this survey, leave correction/additions in comments and I’ll add them to the post! Or you could email me at the “Contact Us” link above.
