It looks like those who predicted “American Idol†would be down another 20 percent this year â€" despite Fox’s best efforts to pump it up with new judges like Mariah Carey and Nicky Minaj - could get jobs posting betting lines in Las Vegas.
The ratings for the premiere of the new season of “Idol†Wednesday night were down 19 percent compared with last year’s premiere in the category networks care most about, viewers between the ages of 18 and 49 (because that is the audience it sells to advertisers). But the total audience for the show also dropped 19 percent.
That added up to the lowest premiere numbers for “Idol†since its very first season, which took place in the summer.
The numbers were still easily good enough to dominate Wednesday night, and would be cause for celebration at any network these days. (In fact, with “Idol,†Fox topped ABC, CBS, and NBC combined in the 18-49 audience.) But the evidence of erosion in the once-impregnable blockbuster is unmistakable./p>
For the two hour premiere, “Idol†attracted 17.9 million viewers, down from 21.9 last year, and scored a 6.0 rating in the 18-49 audience, down from a 7.4 a year ago. That season “Idol†ended up losing about 30 percent of its audience.
The best news for the show was that it still continues to show growth during its duration, jumping 25 percent from start to finish, and for the moment at least, it still looks more potent than the show mostly blamed for stealing some of the “Idol†thunder, “The Voice†on NBC.
That singing-competition show, which was the bulwark of NBC’s success this past fall, scored a 4.2 rating in the 18-49 segment with 12.3 million viewers for its premiere last fall.
But the concern about “Idol†will remain as the season progresses because last season the show ended up averaging a 5.1 rating, after that 7.4 rating at the start.
A version of this article appeared in print on 01/18/2013, on page C2 of the NewYork edition with the headli! ne: Ratings Down Again For ‘Idol’ Premiere.