Though it technically delivered its best adults 18-49 rating of the season, Sunday’s “American Idol” performance was arguably the most underwhelming thus far.
FOX confirmed Monday that “Idol,” which aired at 10:57PM out of a monster, overtime NFC Championship game between the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers that looks to have beaten the 50 million viewer mark by a comfortable margin, only posted a 7.9 adults 18-49 rating and 19.8 million viewers.
While the substantial tune-out during the NFL post-game coverage undoubtedly took some of the bite out of the lead-in, the reality is that “Idol” had the second biggest synergy platform of the year, behind only the Super Bowl, to recapture viewers who did not tune in this week. It failed to do so.
Irrefutably, the rating and viewership are massive for a FOX broadcast in the timeslot. But given the disappointing lead-in retention and the limited growth from Wednesday’s premiere numbers, it is difficult to call this scheduling decision successful for FOX.
As such, it is hard to argue FOX would not have instead been better off airing a younger series, such as the very cinematic, accessible, standalone pilot for new series “Touch.” While the ratings very likely would have paled in comparison to those of the “Idol” airing, it would have succeeded in giving millions of viewers the chance to dive into a new series about which they do not already have ten seasons’ worth of opinion.