Via The Live Feed:
Some good news for American Idol–for a change. Last night’s premiere kept roughly the same ratings numbers as the Season 8 premiere.
Coming off Fox’s record fall in the ratings and unprecedented buzz over the departure of judge Simon Cowell, the ninth season premiere of “American Idol” was steady in the ratings.
Halting its recent trajectory, the two-hour “Idol” opener was seen by 29.8 million viewers and drew an 11.7 preliminary rating among adults 18-49.
That’s up dead-even in the demo with last year, though “Idol” does tend to climb a tenth or two in the national ratings and Fox expects that to happen again this year. By this afternoon, the “Idol” rating may be up slightly for the first time since 2007.
Checking back to last year’s post-premiere ratings, the preliminary numbers of viewers watching the Season 8 premiere were slightly higher at 30.074 million.
But still–holding steady is a victory when you consider that Season 8 numbers were down a whopping 10% from Season 7’s premiere.
from The Live Feed:
“This is an amazing achievement, ” said Fox president of alternative Mike Darnell. “To be in its ninth season, and to have taken a lot of punches over the last couple years, we are thrilled to come back this strong. For ‘Idol’ to break even — and probably climb in the nationals — this is champagne cork-popping time. Look at the competition, we are more dominate than ever. Our competitors, they’re saying, ‘Crap, we thought this thing was over!”
