Simon Cowell will announce a “surprise new show at the network upfronts in New York City this week, according to the New York Times. I wonder what it could be?
In the meantime, the Times ran a story on the sinking fortunes of singing competition shows, and Simon had an opinion or two on that. Here are his thoughts.
“They flooded the market. There have just been a ton of shows, and something has simply gone awry.”
“When ‘X Factor’ doesn’t do the numbers you want, for a while you’re a pariah. It’s over. ‘He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I’ve had that all my life in the record business. You have a massive hit, then you sign another artist who doesn’t hit and it’s ‘Don’t go near Simon. He is so over.’ Then you come back with somebody else and you’re hot again. That’s what I’ve always accepted about television in America.”
“Who does better? The ‘Voice’ judges or the ‘Voice’ contestants? It’s quite obvious the judges have sold a ton more.”
One record production executive who has worked on music shows tells The Times, “I think the record companies are off the notion that they can create stars off these shows.” The executive requested anonymity, as he has continuing relationships with both music and television executives (Is that you Jimmy? Heh.)
The American Idol median viewer age is 52. “It’s now your grandmother’s Idol, ” said Brad Adgate, the senior vice president of research for the media-buying firm Horizon Media.
There’s an infographic included in the Times article that tracks ratings and median viewer age for American Idol, Glee and The Voice over the course of the series run. All 3 shows ratings are falling, while the median age rises.
