American Idol Final 2 Ratings DOWN from Last Year!

By On 05/25/2011 · 175 Comments · In American Idol, Glee

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Update: Final ratings numbers are in:

American Idol was adjusted up two tenths of a ratings point from its preliminary ratings to a 6.4 adults 18-49 rating.

The Dancing with the Stars finale was adjusted up one tenth of a ratings point to a 4.6 adults 18-49 rating.

There were no other ratings adjustments

Despite American Idol Season 10 ratings improving overall over last year’s numbers. Last night’s final performance is down slightly vs last year. Via Entertainment Weekly:

Fox’s American Idol performance finale was down slightly from last year in the ratings.

Tuesday’s show delivered 20 million viewers and a 6.2 preliminary adults 18-49 rating, down 7 percent from last season. That rating will probably improve a tad in the nationals. The performance isn’t unexpected given that Idol has been tracking just slightly below 2010?s run all season, itself an accomplishment given the age of the show and all the changes to the judging panel. Still, last night was the lowest rating yet for a performance finale of Idol.

Glee performed strong, earning 12.1 million viewers and a hearty 4.6 rating, the most-watched episode since Week 2 of the season (excluding the Super Bowl).

The Voice and DWTS via TVByTheNumbers:

DWTS averaged 21 million viewers (1 million more than Idol, but Idol still won the demo). The Voice averaged 8.5 million viewers

The two hour season finale of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars scored a 4.5 adults 18-49 rating, up 29% vs. last week

Perhaps muted by the Dancing with the Stars finale, NBC’s latest great hope, The Voice, fell to a 3.8 adults 18-49 rating, down 16% from last week. That’s not a good omen for next season, when theyr’re currently scheduled to go head to head.

From EW

Idol kicked butt in the ratings again this season

RANK SHOW NET RATE
1 AMERICAN IDOL — WED FOX 8.8
2 SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL NBC 8.0
3 AMERICAN IDOL — THU FOX 7.7
4 NFL SUNDAY PRE-KICK NBC 5.6
THE VOICE NBC 5.6
6 DANCING WITH THE STARS ABC 4.8
MODERN FAMILY ABC 4.8
8 NFL THE OT FOX 4.6
9 BIG BANG THEORY CBS 4.4
10 SURVIVOR:NICARAGUA CBS 4.3
GREY’S ANATOMY ABC 4.3

Only Sunday night Football came close to rivaling Idol in the 18-49 demo.

 
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  • Elliegrll

    Also as I already mentioned, power-texting became an issue starting Season 8, and there is no reason to think that a subset of voters would power-text for all contestants equally

    Why would one contestant have power texters and another doesn’t. For me, it all comes down to people not having proof to back up these claims. The only people who actually know the truth are 19 and the company that they use. For fans, these theories have more to do with favorites not winning than actual facts.

  • Allison

    I wasn’t looking forward to the top 2 show. I guess a lot of people felt the same.I only watched Idol from 8 -9, because nothing else was on. If something had appealed to me, I wouldn’t have watched it. That said I left the room computer every time a commercial came on, and that was lots.
    I watched DWTS at the same time as the Voice. With dexterous channel flipping I got to see all 4 battles and the bulk of DWTS. I flipped channels when Glee was on too. All that reality singing and dancing ended up giving me a headache.

    CRB says:
    05/25/2011 at 2:39 pm

    I’m surprised because I figured the big medical scare for America’s sweetheart would have really brought the flock in.

    I hadn’t heard about that before the show, many may not have.

  • https://twitter.com/pmhowden undercooked

    The only people who actually know the truth are 19 and the company that they use. For fans, these theories have more to do with favorites not winning than actual facts.

    Ermm..overall DI has been pretty accurate when it comes to the AI finale. Even with the vote spread. It said Cook blew out Archie, and he did. It said Taylor blew out Kat and he did. It said Lee blew out Crystal, and he did. Only during S8 does DI seem not to reflect the actual result. It stated the vote was too close to call, yet there are rumors out there that Kris blew Adam out of the water. I think people notice it because it is interesting to note, and not necessarily that they are upset their favorite lost. So what can we conclude from those DI results vs the rumored landslide Kris had?

    Was there was a subset of text voters who only power voted for Kris, or could the discrepancy in the DI results and the AI results be due to the simple fact that Adam failed to attract many fans who had AT&T unlimited text plans.

  • manny

    It’s always been just a rumor that Kris blew Adam out of the water.

    I was having a discussion with one of my son’s friends who works for the America’s Got Talent show. She told me that people in the know(not her) knew that that season was a statistical tie. They didn’t dare let the vote totals out for fear of another Clay vs Rueben outcry. They couldn’t risk demands of recounts etc. as season 2 was a nightmare for them after the finale.

    It makes sense when you look at post show sales and Dial Idol.

  • Hazehel

    Why would one contestant have power texters and another doesn’t.

    Do girls text more than boys? Do teenagers text more than their mothers or grandmothers? Do black, whites, Latinos, city dwellers, country farm boys, Wall Street financiers, soccer moms all text equally the same? Do they all have the same preferences in Idol contestants? If everyone does everything the same, then market researchers are out of a job.

    And no said one contestant may have power-texting fans but another doesn’t, just that the power-texting fans aren’t shared evenly.

  • Lisa

    Did Go Phones allow you text 10-20 votes at a time then?

    Yes & they held voting parties. At least Taylor’s fan’s and Pickler’s fans did. I still somewhere have the info how to vote thousands of times 10 or 20 at a time. In their hometown’s the local phone companies donated the phones.

  • http://ucsub.colorado.edu/~hansenkd/BrahmsGuides MahlerFan

    MahlerFan – sadly Haley is dueting with a horrible partner who in no way fits who she is as an artist. Nigel is screwing her over one more time it seems. I am starting to doubt that Haley is even going to get a single.

    Um…disagree with this. Haley loves jazz and big band stuff. She’s probably honored to be singing with TB. I’m guessing it’s “Night and Day,” one of her signature tunes. And even if the single is not performed tonight, it’s safe to assume it exists. Uncle Nigel pretty much said it did.

  • https://twitter.com/pmhowden undercooked

    Manny

    It’s always been just a rumor that Kris blew Adam out of the water.

    She told me that people in the know(not her) knew that that season was a statistical tie. They didn’t dare let the vote totals out for fear of another Clay vs Rueben outcry. They couldn’t risk demands of recounts etc. as season 2 was a nightmare for them after the finale.

    See I can believe that because DI gave a slight edge to Kris but still showed the totals it in the margin of error and therefore outcome was too close to call. Perhaps the “Kris won in a landslide” was to stop peeps from asking questions. Not that it did any good! LOL :)

    If that is the case, then DI keeps it record of accurately predicting the finale. Therefore, I think we can trust DI for today’s results.

  • AddictedToMars

    Now the AINOW twitter just tweeted that the final ratings are in that this year’s finale was up from last year’s with 20.6 million viewers compared to last year’s finale with 20.1 million viewers.

  • Indigobunting

    For me, at least, though I doubt that I’m alone, the boring part had absolutely nothing to do with the genre and everything to do with the fact that I don’t find either of these kids to be compelling performers at this point or mature enough performers to be at all convincing when they do what they do

    Gonna second that emotion. I actually liked this season better than 9 for entertainment value and variety in performer styles (way more variety, IMO) and like Lauren’s voice, but yeah, snoozefest with those two clone kids. And the forgone conclusion of the winner doesn’t make me anxious to tune in tonight.

    Now, S7, that was a great one. Best final 2 and finale. Not even my favorite performer, but again, best show.

    Text voting? Eh. I don’t know if all fan bases do it, but I was a big fantard S8 and I remember all top 3 fanbases talking about power texting and giving tips in the big forums. I don’t think it was an unequal factor in voting- didn’t Kirsten just give the published Odds up above that had Kris at much better winning odds and predicted the winner? I also remember (at least in Danny’s fanbase) strict warnings from veterans to NOT powertext because the votes would not be counted. That was pretty much the party line.

    I think it will be the other way around-Adam will be opening for Haley instead

    Wow. And maybe Carrie can open for Scotty? ;)

  • TLKC

    Kris didn’t blow Adam out of the water. Ryan said on the finale that there were nearly 100 million votes. Roger Taylor in an interview with the BBC said Adam only got 49 mllion votes. That means they were less than 2 million votes apart. Not close enough to be in question but less than a 2% spread,’ which IS close.

    My memory is that Dial Idol showed Kris slightly ahead. If Scotty wins tonight then their finale predictions have never been wrong.

  • Hazehel

    It’s always been just a rumor that Kris blew Adam out of the water.

    Don’t think it is just a rumour. Talking about the Arkansas vote controversy, Richard Rushfield reported that according several Idol sources, if all of the votes from Arkansas were removed, Kris would still have won.

    Roger Taylor in an interview with the BBC said Adam only got 49 mllion votes.

    And how would he know?

  • CRB

    Wow. And maybe Carrie can open for Scotty? ;)

    I just threw up a little in my mouth. Mmmm, that really was a good burrito.

  • Elliegrll

    Do girls text more than boys? Do teenagers text more than their mothers or grandmothers? Do black, whites, Latinos, city dwellers, country farm boys, Wall Street financiers, soccer moms all text equally the same? Do they all have the same preferences in Idol contestants? If everyone does everything the same, then market researchers are out of a job.

    And no said one contestant may have power-texting fans but another doesn’t, just that the power-texting fans aren’t shared evenly.

    And once again, this is opinion, and not actual fact. Every contestant has all types of fans. Young, old, every different race, female, male, power voters, those who vote ten times and those who only vote once.

  • Hazehel

    And once again, this is opinion, and not actual fact. Every contestant has all types of fans. Young, old, every different race, female, male, power voters, those who vote ten times and those who only vote once.

    And if your opinion is that all contestants have equal proportion of fans amongst viewers of different race, gender and age, then you are the one who is making the most ridiculous claim.

  • koshka

    Don’t think it is just a rumour. Talking about the Arkansas vote controversy, Richard Rushfield reported that according several Idol sources, if all of the votes from Arkansas were removed, Kris would still have won.

    While I don’t know or really care about what the actual #s were.. Rushfield isn’t exactly a reliable source.

  • TLKC

    I don’t know how Roger Taylor knew but the question has always been for me: why would he make it up?

    He and Brain May were there, they know the producers well and they were interested in doing something with Adam. It was a likely question for them to ask and not outside the realm of possibility that they might get an inside answer. Taylor’s BBC comment was pretty casual; he didn’t even get Adam’s name right and it clearly wasn’t a big issue to him who won.

    To me, a 49-51 million spread answers all questions: as Ryan said, it wasn’t close; as Dial Idol suggested it wasn’t a blow out; and, as Nigel says, Arkansa’s votes wouldn’t likely cover a 2 million vote spread because it’s population is less than 3 million people (many of whom wouldn’t be voting.)

    Anyway, if I was a betting person, I’d go with Scotty, ’cause Dial Idol has done pretty well. Since I’m not, I’ll wait and see.

    (My steely determination to boycott has collapsed today due to the unfortunate fact that I have nothing better to do tonight.)

  • Hazehel

    I don’t know how Roger Taylor knew but the question has always been for me: why would he make it up?

    I didn’t say he made it up, he might have misremembered, or made some wrong assumptions, or someone told him the wrong thing. And he did add the qualifier “I think”, that means he wasn’t entirely sure.

    Reading the actual quote:”"He didn’t actually win, he only got 49 million votes, I think…” it really sounds like he wasn’t quite sure of what happened.

    While I don’t know or really care about what the actual #s were.. Rushfield isn’t exactly a reliable source.

    It’s not Richard Rushfield that said it, it’s his Idol sources. Unless you are saying he lied about having talked to those sources and made the whole thing up, in which case there is nothing much left to discuss really because I don’t want to accuse anyone of lying without having some proof.

  • Mel1

    I’m just talking out of my arse, but maybe Kris does have more fans in the US, thus winning by a huge landslide. However, maybe Adam only seemed more popular because he has a much bigger fanbase outside the US. Thus, all the huge number of posts and blogs about Adam. Those fans could not vote, so not at all helping him win.

  • Mel1

    Speaking of Roger Taylor, when is Adam going to have a concert with Queen? Roger spoke so highly of Adam, and he really did want to work with him. Maybe Adam’s “people” want him to become more popular in the UK – ? Even recently Monte said Queen and Adam should perform together.

  • TLKC

    Sorry, Hazahel, wasn’t suggesting that you thought Taylor made it up.

    It’s interesting that AI8 results are still such a hot topic. Not to reinforce my image as a potentially serious gambler, but I bet Idol could raise more than a million dollars for the charity of it’s choice if it offered up the actual results to AI8.

    RE: tonight – I more or less hope that Scotty wins. His tendency to coast is partly the judges fault and hopefully Jimmy will push him hard in the post-season.

    Lauren would be a better concert-closer than him, though, because she really aims to please.

  • TLKC

    I would happily bankrupt myself to attend an Adam/Queen concert.

    Did James tweet that he’s been put on “voice-rest?” If this is true and Lee DeWyze also isn’t performing then, WTF? It is American Idol not “Pitch Your Latest Project.”

    If this keeps up then Idol may be able to start charging for performance spots.

  • TLKC

    Mel1: is everyone at dinner or is there a new thread?

  • Q3

    It’s interesting that AI8 results are still such a hot topic. Not to reinforce my image as a potentially serious gambler, but I bet Idol could raise more than a million dollars for the charity of it’s choice if it offered up the actual results to AI8.

    I am almost sure they could.

    They could probably raise even more for a revote.

  • http://ucsub.colorado.edu/~hansenkd/BrahmsGuides MahlerFan

    I really need to retract any comments demanding or hoping that Haley’s (or anybody else’s) single would be performed last night. Nigel put on an awesome, well-paced show, and an original song would have been jarring–wouldn’t have fit. And Haley’s performance with Tony Bennett was a beautiful moment. I’m sure she is happy as a clam right now. I only hope that the song she puts out is decent.

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