American Idol | Guy D'Alema/ABC
Sunday’s “American Idol,” which marked the final audition episode, endured a slight week-over-week ratings decline.
According to fast national data posted by Showbuzz, the episode drew a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating and averaged 7.09 million viewers in the 8PM hour. It improved to a 1.7 and 7.66 million at 9PM.
Last week’s episode averaged a 1.8 rating and 7.81 million viewers from 8-10PM.
It is worth noting that the early portion of this week’s episode faced tougher competition from CBS.
Bolstered by a strong NCAA overrun and its heavily hyped Stormi Daniels interview, this week’s “60 Minutes” drew a far larger audience than last week’s episode. It ran into the 8PM hour, thus providing stiff head-to-head competition when “Idol” first hit the air.
With “60 Minutes” providing stronger lead-in support, this week’s “Instinct” also appears to have performed better than last week’s episode. That extended the competitive pressure.
Specific numbers are still being fleshed out due to the live basketball overrun, but CBS was clearly a bigger threat this week than it was last week.
Sunday’s “Idol,” moreover, compares decently to last Monday’s episode (1.6 rating, 7.68 million viewers).
After five airings (three Sunday, two Monday), it appears safe to say “American Idol” has not been reinvigorated by the ABC relaunch. It will not return to its live+same-day ratings glory days.
It is, however, a solid performer by conventional TV ratings standards. The question will be whether that above average performance is strong enough to warrant the big cost.