Ever since American Idol peaked several years back we’ve been watching a steady decline in the series’ ratings.
Sadly, this was the lowest rated premiere ever for the series as it brought in 17.9 million viewers on its Wednesday debut featuring New York auditions. Of course, those numbers in a vacuum would be great, just not by Idol’s own standards.
The dip in Season 12’s premiere ratings was a significant 19% drop over last year’s premiere which had its own major drop from the previous year.
On a positive note, the second night of the premiere which featured Idol’s Chicago auditions managed to hold steady to last year’s numbers. Could good word of mouth saved the series on its second night? Hard to tell, but that’s an impressive feat.
As the season continues we’ll keep an eye on American Idol ratings and see just how this new panel of judges and talent pool holds up .
Source: TV By the Numbers & CNN
New Idea for Fox, let America vote on who the judges should be!!!!
Susanne, exactly! They really need to let us vote for which judges we might like. This bunch is crazy. Especially Mariah screeching at Niki. And Niki making ugly comments back to her. Keith Urban said he felt like a scratching post when he is in between the two of them.
I won’t be watching this season unless Nikki Minage is replaced. She seems to think the show is about her. She is very obnoxious and annoying.
I was looking forward to the season – because of the judges. But after watching the “ladies” go at each other all evening, it was very dissapointing, to say the least. It really was a distraction from what the show is about. I don’t think I will watch this season at all now.
American Idol used to be a tradition in our house followed by tickets to the American Idol tour concert. I am SO disappointed in the judges choices this year–especially the immature behavior of Nikki Minage that I am not sure I’ll continue watching unless she begins to stop her over-the-top childish behavior. Hopefully the comments of the viewers will get back to the sponsors and producers so a change can take place when the live shows begin, or this great show will loose lots of viewers. The contestants deserve better. Maybe past winners could be judges next year.
There is too much confusion and noise coming from the judges desk and their mouths. All that yelling back and forth. We want to see the contestants and hear Not all that Judges constant carrying on!