Skip to footer

American Idol ratings slip in Season 11 premiere. So what?

American Idol 'only' had 26 million viewers last night, down 17 percent from last year. But how does it stack up against 'The X Factor' or 'The Voice'?

|
AP Photo/Danny Moloshok
American Idol judge Jennifer Lopez reacts as fellow judge Steven Tyler (l.) of Aerosmith makes a joke in Pasadena, Calif., earlier this month.
  • By David Clark Scott

Has America reached its TV singing contest saturation point?

Last year saw the debut of two American Idol look-a-likes – "The X Factor" and "The Voice." So, perhaps it's not too surprising that on Wednesday night, American Idol Season 11 opened to an audience that was 17 percent smaller than last year's opening episode, according to Nielsen ratings data.

The two-hour premiere covering American Idol auditions in Savannah, Georgia, was watched by a little more than 26 million people, down from almost 30 million in the 2011 premiere.

Lest anyone feel sorry for FOX –  or start writing the American Idol obituary – that's still a bigger prime-time audience Wednesday night than the combined shows of ABC, CBS, NBC, and the CW – by 47 percent, notes Futon Critic.

And how does American Idol stack up to Simon Cowell's copycat show (also on FOX), The X Factor? 

American Idol is still the reigning  King of the "Reality" TV Songfest.  The X Factor finale – where Melanie Amaro was crowned the victor –  had a mere 12.6 million viewers last month. That's less than half of the American Idol viewership last night. The show garnered "around 10 million votes," according to Mr. Cowell.

NBC's "The Voice," got  11 million votes for its final show.

How does that voting stack up against the Standard Bearer? American Idol's Season 1 finale saw 15.5 million votes cast when Kelly Clarkson won. The number of voters has climbed almost every year since. Last year, when country singer Scotty McCreery won, 122 million votes were cast, reports the Hollywood Reporter.

Wednesday night, American Idol cast the program's longevity in a positive light by showcasing video clips of how the early American Idol episodes have inspired the current crop of contestants to showcase their talent. Still, given the first-night ratings slippage, FOX – and its advertisers – will be certainly watching to see if the new Idol-wannabe programs are successfully siphoning off viewers. Or, if TV audiences are just growing tired of American Idol.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to American Idol ratings slip in Season 11 premiere. So what?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/TV/2012/0119/American-Idol-ratings-slip-in-Season-11-premiere.-So-what
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe