Because American Idol aired against the Grammys Sunday night (March 14) a ratings drop would not have been unexpected for the show.
However, American Idol’s last audition show managed to stay steady compared to the previous week, at least according to Nielsen fast preliminary ratings. The final numbers probably won’t be out today due to the nature of determining ratings of live television events that air across all time zones.
American Idol garnered a 0.8 in the key 18-49 rating with 5.4 million overall viewers. It didn’t come close to winning the night in either the key rating or overall viewers for ABC. CBS owned the night in all measures.
However, the Grammy Awards only eared a 1.9 rating in the key demo and 7.9 million overall viewers according to the fast overnight numbers. That’s a decline of 60 and 50 percent from last year’s pre-pandemic telecast, to all-time lows. The 2020 Grammys held the previous demo low of 5.4, while the 2006 telecast had delivered the smallest audience: 17 million, according to TV Line, which roughly figures about a 2.2 rating and 9 million total viewers once Nielsen finals are announced.
CBS 60 Minutes earned the night’s highest audience at 8.8 million, at least in the preliminaries, with a 1.2 rating in the key demo.
For more ratings check out Showbuzz Daily
UPDATE: Final ratings for the Grammys: 2.28 rating in the key 18-49 demo, with 9.2 million overall viewers. American Idol ratings remained unchanged. More final Sunday March 14 ratings at Showbuzz Daily
