America’s Got Talent: The Champions finale garnered a 1.2 in the 18-49 demo and 7.6 million viewers. That was up 20 and 6 percent respectively, scoring its best rating since the season premiere. However, Monday’s finale was down 28 percent from last year’s. The overall second season of AGT:The Champions was down 30 percent from Season 1. OUCH. For a comparison, Simon Cowell’s former show, American Idol scored a 1.5 in the key demo for its premiere Sunday night. WHOOPSIE DOODLE! And The Bachelor has been beating AGT handily all season.
For a good look at season 2 vs season 1, check out the chart below. The Bachelor ratings are in parentheses. Note, that The Bachelor has kept it’s ratings fairly steady from year to year.
Season 1
Week 1 – 1.8/7 9.97 (1.5/6 5.13)
Week 2 – 1.7/7 9.98 (1.7/7 5.64)
Week 3 – 1.6/6 9.70 (1.6/6 5.95)
Week 4 – 1.8/8 10.45 (1.8/8 6.43)
Week 5 – 1.6/7 9.79 (1.8/8 6.23)
Week 6 – 1.7/7 10.44 (1.9/8 6.23)
Week 7 – 1.7/7 10.57 (1.9/8 6.54)
Season 2
Week 1 – 1.3/6 8.06 (1.9/9 6.07)
Week 2 – 1.0/4 6.52 (1.6/7 5.37)
Week 3 – 1.1/5 7.05 (1.9/8 6.26)
Week 4 – 1.1/6 7.35 (1.6/8 5.99)
Week 5 – 1.1 6.74 (1.5 5.62)
Week 6 – 1.0 7.16 (1.7 6.39)
Week 7 – 1.2 7.6 (1.8 6.6)
Could the bad publicity that dogged AGT: The Champions from the run up to the season premiere, through the airing of the series affected viewership? Or is AGT:The Champions, which is essentially an all-star version of AGT, a concept that only works as a one-off? I had reservations last year about bringing the show back for another season. The concept basically canabilizes the original, booking acts in some cases, only a few months after they appeared on the main series.
If the summer series ratings drop precipitously year to year, then it’s safe to say that AGT has a problem. Sure, it’s an aging series. But look at The Bachelor! It’s been on TV even longer (2002 vs AGT 2006) and it’s still pulling in steady ratings.
* Note: Discussing BROADCAST ratings here and BROADCAST only. All comparisons are apples to apples.
