Does Nielsen then not take into account TIVO or PVR recordings of the shows as well as other formats? With the availability of that technology I have to think that is likely a very large number. With digital technology I am sure all those numbers are available to TIVO and the digital cable companies though I imagine satellite is hard to measure at all. So indeed the lower ratings numbers might not be legit at all or I should say complete, comprehensive, accurate because the competing technologies have been exploding in the last few years.

Though number of votes cast I would argue is also not necessarily an accurate reflection of ratings because you can cast more than one vote so you have powervoting blocks along with new tools to faciliate that. There is also apparently a way for people who live outside the US to vote in American Idol anyway though indeed they are also people not included in US ratings numbers like Canadians.

May 8, 2009, from TV By the Numbers (a site a lot of Ad media people read):

With ratings down this season, the head of 19 Entertainmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s parent company said Fox is looking to contest the Nielsen ratings à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  something Fox denied and Nielsen said it had no knowledge of. The top executive also said Thursday that he expects Fox to begin negotiating this summer an extension on its deal to carry à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Idol,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  which has two years remaining.

Robert F.X. Sillerman, CEO of CKX, Inc., said a meeting between Fox and Nielsen is scheduled for Monday, or thereabouts, to deal with an issue he called à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“oxymoronicà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ : à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  ratings have fallen, yet other indicators show that viewership is up.

Furthermore, he suggested that Fox has some grist in its argument, having identified a home with 14 people watching the show à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  which it was not given proper ratings credit for.

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Thereà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a meeting I understand on Monday between à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  I believe ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Monday à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  with Fox and Nielsen,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  Sillerman said on a call with investors. CKX owns 19 Entertainment, a co-producer on à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Idol.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s oxymoronic,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  he added, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“that (Nielsen is) reporting gross numbers of viewers (that are) down, yet all other measures à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  like, for instance, the number of people who are voting à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  are up.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

Here is the link: http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/05/08/conspiracy-alert-fox-to-challenge-nielsen-over-american-idol-ratings/18320

Total attendance was 646K. The second highest capacity season was Season 2 with 89.3% of tickets sold. Seasons 5 and Season 2 also had the highest average attendence per concert (10,945 and 10,446 respectively) as well as the most numbers of sold out shows (19 and 17)

You have the number for total attendence for all the tours? So far we have -

Season 5 – 645,782
Season 6 – 349,583
Season 7 – 482,870

I don’t think this year the total attendence will be higher than Season 7 because I think Adam is the only one who can draw the big crowd (last year the two Davids, and possibly Jason can), but I hope to be proved wrong on that.

Since 2004 Neilson has been shifting from the old paper diaries to electonic “people meters” and whenever a market shifts, viewership drops overnight. So it’s difficult to compare this year’s Nielsen ratings to other years. At the end of April, 2009, Nielsen informed TV networks that it had recognized an undercount among users of its people meters, a device for measuring ratings. Members of the Nielsen panel are supposed to press buttons on the people meter when they start and stop watching TV. Nielsen said à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“an in-house study showed 8 percent more people were watching TV in Nielsen households than had been measuredà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  by the meters.

Here’s a specific case from Ed Ansin the station manager at Miami-Ft L. Fox Affiliate:

“Suddenly, as of Oct. 1 of last year, about 50 percent of the young audience, the young adult audience disappeared, vanished.”

Critics of the devices say they do not accurately reflect young viewers, blacks and Hispanics, the perfect example came in South Florida with American Idol.

“Which is of course the leading show in the country, and American Idol overnight lost 50 percent of its audience. This is impossible. Suddenly we didn’t lose 50 percent of the audience, and nobody else in the country did. That doesn’t make any sense.”

This station has filed suit against Neilson.

Plus, Neilson only measures Live in-home TV viewing (and they now do some adjustments to pick up college dorm resident). They don’t measure other viewship — from bars and churchs to “on demand” to online. As more people shift from traditional live TV viewing, watch for even more in-show product placements. Like the Coke cups on the judges desk.

Season 5 – $35.2 million
Season 6 – $20.9 million
Season 7 – $29.3 million

Someone else perhaps may have the numbers for seasons prior to season 5,

Season 1: $8.1 million
Season 2: $15.6 million
Season 3: $11.3 million
Season 4: $16.9 million

but I doubt the numbers will be higher than season 7 if only because the ticket prices were lower in the earlier seasons.

Yes, the average price of a ticket in Season 1 was $31 while last year it was closer to $61. The tour has also gotten a lot longer. While the tour only had 30 shows in Season 1, it has gotten to be double that (59-60 shows). The big jump came in Season 5 when Idol added shows to address demand for tickets (initially, the tour was about the same size as AI4 with its 42 shows). They sold a whopping 96% of all tickets that year (and the venues were bigger – they release differing number of tickets depending on demand). Total attendance was 646K. The second highest capacity season was Season 2 with 89.3% of tickets sold. Seasons 5 and Season 2 also had the highest average attendence per concert (10,945 and 10,446 respectively) as well as the most numbers of sold out shows (19 and 17)

This is the key graph.

Longer shows in the final rounds (e.g., two hours for Top 10 night v. one hour in seasons 4 and 5; an hour and a half for Top 9 v. one hour for Top 9 in previous seasons) means shows that are tediously paced and unnecessarily long – but shows with far more commercial time to sell. If they can get away with it, of course they will. So a bloated, less popular version of Idol can gross more ad dollars than the leaner, higher rated version of the past. That’s good news for the Fox, but for the audience, not so much.

Idol is lucky, it seems, that for the moment, other shows are declining faster than it is, as ad revenues seem to be in part dependent on the distance between it and its competition.

One factor not mentioned here is ad rate inflation, which is constant and substantial. You have to bear that in mind when comparing revenues from this year against prior years. If Season 8 was generating the same audience as Season 5, just imagine how much greater the ad dollars – and ancillary revenues – would be.

It’s natural – inevitable – for a hit show to lose some of its audience as it ages. Idol is doing well for a show in its eighth season, and it’s hard to imagine Fox coming up with something that could do anywhere near as well in Idol’s timeslots, so I expect the show to last a long time. How much change can it sustain while remaining at the top of the ratings? It’ll be interesting to see. Simon may stay a while longer, but he won’t stay forever. Same for the rest of the panel, and even Ryan will eventually tire of doing the show someday, I suppose.

Has anyone seen the tour revenue numbers because I have to think last year was the best year for the tour

Season 5 was the best year for the tour according to Idolchatter –
http://blogs.usatoday.com/idolchatter/idol_tour_08/index.html

Season 5 – $35.2 million
Season 6 – $20.9 million
Season 7 – $29.3 million

Someone else perhaps may have the numbers for seasons prior to season 5, but I doubt the numbers will be higher than season 7 if only because the ticket prices were lower in the earlier seasons.

Has anyone seen the tour revenue numbers because I have to think last year was the best year for the tour because the talent in the top 10 was so diverse there was something for everyone.

I do agree however with all the sentiments shared that some of that breathtaking profit should be used to clear more songs because they might actually be able to improve ratings so they can charge advertisers even more.

this.

im pretty sure they are paying some left over lab monkeys instead of real people…. it makes sense.