As bleak as the overnight ratings report looked, the fast national ratings paint an even worse picture of the eleventh “American Idol” season premiere.
According to the data, the show fell a whopping 26% year-over-year to a 7.2 adults 18-49 rating. Premiere viewership was also down notably, from a final 2011 number of 26.3 million to just 21.6 million in 2012.
Given the strong response to last season, which actually closed its season with more finale viewers than season 9, such a massive drop for the season eleven premiere is far steeper than would be expected due to “age.” It is thus impossible to ignore the role FOX’s “The X Factor” played in accelerating a loss of interest in the music competition genre.
With it clear that “Idol” has lost a significant chunk of mass relevance, the hope now is that there was less “curiosity” tune-in for the audition episodes than in prior seasons and thus will be more season-long investment from the audience. In recent years, by the time the competition reached its final weeks, at least 20% of the initial adults 18-49 audience had departed. If that trajectory were to hold up, “Idol” could conceivably lose almost all of its competitive margin over demo winners like “Modern Family” and “The Big Bang Theory.”
The return of “Idol,” nonetheless, hurt the bulk of its network competition. It also remained the night’s dominant ratings winner, besting runner-up “Modern Family” (5.0 A18-49) by 44%.
