The Season 12 premiere of AMERICAN IDOL posted a 6.0/16 among Adults 18-49 – an expected -19% decline versus last season due to Oprah’s Lance Armstrong interview – but still gave FOX the highest-rated night with entertainment programming of any network so far this season and out-rated the combined 3-net competition (ABC/CBS/NBC) by +11%. FOX won the night across all key demos.
AMERICAN IDOL grew +25% over the course of its two hours and outperformed The Voice’s season premiere by +43% in Adults 18-49 (6.0 vs. 4.2) and +46% in Total Viewers (17.9 Mil vs. 12.3 Mil.). In fact, last night’s IDOL marked the highest-rated and most-watched unscripted series telecast this season, beating the next highest-rated telecast by +22%.
In addition, last night’s premiere was up +18% versus the show’s Live+ Same Day average last season (5.1).
Competition
ABC’s The Middle (2.3/7, down -4%), The Neighbors (1.9/5, down -10%), Modern Family (4.3/11, down -9%) and Suburgatory (2.4/6, down -8%) were all down from last week. Nashville (2.2/6) was up +5% week-to-week.
Following a repeat NCIS (1.1/3), CBS’ Criminal Minds posted a 2.8/7, -10% below its most recent original telecast (3.1/8 on 12/12/12). At 10pm, CSI (2.3/6) was up +5% from its most recent original (2.2/6 on 12/12/12).
NBC kicked off a night of repeats with Whitney (0.8/2), followed by Guys with Kids (0.8/2), Law & Order: SVU (0.6/2) and Chicago Fire (1.0/3).
