“American Idol”‘s ratings are down from previous seasons and appear to be on the usual, gradual decline that occurs each season, but the show’s performance Tuesday still helped FOX dominate.
The 90-minute episode, which actually ran on time, posted a 7.5 adults 18-49 rating with 21.26 million viewers. Hardly impressive by “Idol” standards, the episode still crushed its nearest competitor CBS in the demo. From 8-9PM, The Eye’s “NCIS” averaged a 3.8 and 19.20 million viewers, while “NCIS: LA” scored a 3.2 with 15.40 million in its 9-9:30PM portion.
Stronger than any lead-in provided by “Glee” this season, “Idol” helped “Raising Hope” reach a series high 3.4 with 8.76 million viewers. Retention from the final “Idol” half-hour was only 43% in the demo, but based on the low retention standard set by many past “Idol” lead-outs, the performance was not terrible. It will be interesting to see how “Traffic Light” fares in the same scenario Wednesday night.