Nielsen fast overnight ratings from Marc Berman
-Ratings Breakdown:
The two-hour live performance edition of Fox American Idol (which was delayed one night due to President Obama Address to Congress) stood well above the competition, virtually equaling the five competing networks combined and total viewers while dominating by 13 percent among adults 18-49. ABC and CBS tied for the No. 2 spots (CBS was a distant second in total viewers, the two networks tied among adults 18-49), followed by fourth-place NBC and an embarrassingly low the CW.American Idol averaged 24.25 million viewers and an 8.9 rating/23 share among adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m., with the half-hour breakdown as follows:
American Idol (Fox)
8:00 p.m. ‘ Viewers: 22.26 million; A18-49: 7.9/22
8:30 p.m. ‘ Viewers: 25.10 million; A18-49: 9.1/24
9:00 p.m. ‘ Viewers: 24.84 million; A18-49: 9.2/23
9:30 p.m. ‘ Viewers: 24.80 million; A18-49: 9.6/23As strong as this is, the year-ago telecast was still considerably stronger at 27.55 million viewers and a 10.5/27 among adults 18-49, based on the final nationals. Do the math and that is a loss of 3.30 million viewers and 15 percent in the demo.
Because of Idol’s interruption in their schedule this week, I wouldn’t normally find a comparison to last year valuable. However, last week’s performance show didn’t fare very well compared to the year before either.