From Mediaweek’s Programming Insider:
As expected, it was a huge overnight victory for Fox on this third Tuesday of 2008, with the seventh season-premiere of American Idol at an 18.6 rating/27 share from 8-10 p.m. Comparably, that outdelivered the second highest rated show of the evening, CBS NCIS (10.2/15), by a hefty 82 percent. But year-to-year, American Idol actually dipped by 15 percent from its sixth season-opener on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007 (21.8/31). So, at this point it is safe to say that American Idol has officially peaked.
I’ll post more specific numbers as they come in…
As expected, it was a huge victory for Fox on this third Tuesday of 2008, with the seventh season-premiere of American Idol at a hefty 33.24 million viewers and a 13.8 rating/32 share among adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m. Comparably, that more than doubled the second most-watched show of the evening, CBS NCIS (Viewers: 15.91 million). But year-to-year, American Idol actually dipped by 4.20 million viewers and 13 percent among adults 18-49 from its sixth season-opener on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2007 (Viewers: 37.44 million; A18-49: 15.8/36). So, at this point it is safe to say that American Idol has officially peaked.
