Quote:‘Idol’ Grapples With Its Own Competition
As Fox’s “American Idol” wraps its 11th season this week with a sing-off between Phillip Phillips and Jessica Sanchez, those involved with the show are asking what went wrong, a rare dose of soul-searching for a show that has been the runaway hit of this century.
“Idol” lost nearly a quarter of its audience this season (it is still huge), dipping below 20 million viewers for the first time since 2003, when a ratings surge made it the No. 1 entertainment program on American television. The drop-off was even more steep among viewers ages 18 to 49, the demographic mostly highly sought by the networks.
...Fox has been paying close attention to the social-media chatter this season, and it says the millions of comments affirm that “Idol” remains the most culturally relevant show on television.
But the ultimate judge remains the Nielsen ratings. Last year, when “Idol” rebounded slightly from lows that were a record in 2010, a typical episode garnered 24.7 million viewers, excluding the finale week. Of those viewers, 10.8 million were between the ages of 18 and 49. Compare that with this year, when a typical episode has attracted about 19.2 million viewers, 7.5 million of whom are in that same demographic.
...Nigel Lythgoe, an executive producer of “Idol,” cited “The Voice” when he was asked to explain the ratings drop last week. “It’s never been like this before,” he said.
Mr. Lythgoe also cited “The X Factor,” the rival singing competition created by Simon Cowell that had its premiere on Fox last fall.
...Jess Cagle, managing editor of Entertainment Weekly, said he had seen evidence of “Idol” fatigue in the magazine’s sales and Web traffic. “While the show still does solid numbers for us online, it’s no longer the juggernaut it once was,” Mr. Cagle said. Online page views for “Idol” coverage this season are about half of what they were in 2010, he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/arts/t...n-fox.html
I stand by the assertion that I made in the first post of this thread back in January:
Quote:A lot of things likely contributed to the decline, but I can't help but think back to how the Idol audience for the performance finale dropped by three million people when Haley was eliminated. By that point, the machinations of the show had been laid bare and it was clear to even casual observers that the judging in the later rounds was biased against Haley. No doubt many people -- new viewers and longtime viewers alike -- were left with such a bad taste in their mouth they swore off watching the show again.
Idol ratings drop -- Did they shoot themselves in the foot in shooting down Haley?
