via FOX:
American Idol Returns - Over 30 Million Fans Celebrate!
On Tuesday the eighth season premiere of American Idol posted a very impressive 11.6/28 among Adults 18-49, with 30.1 Mil Total Viewers, making it the highest-rated telecast and night of the season (all networks, all programming) and the highest-rated night on any network in 11 months among Adults 18-49 and a year in Total Viewers.
IDOL showed a substantial advantage over the season's previous highest-rated entertainment telecast, including +57% among Adults 18-49 (11.6/28 vs. 7.4/18 for Grey's Anatomy on 9/25/08). In fact, this +57% advantage is even greater than last year's comparable advantage over that season's highest-rated entertainment telecast at the time (+55%, IDOL vs. Grey's Anatomy premiere on 9/27/07). In other demos, American Idol's advantage over the previous highest entertainment telecast includes +28% in Total Viewers (30.1 vs. 23.5 Mil for CSI on 10/8/08), +24% among Adults 18-34 (9.7/26 vs. 7.8/21 for Grey's Anatomy on 9/25/08) and +108% in Teens (10.8/33 vs. 5.2/15 for Family Guy on 11/2/08).
Total Prime
Last night FOX delivered the highest rated night of the 08/09 season among all networks (including entertainment and sports programming). FOX showed a considerable advantage over the next highest rated night, increasing +23% among Adults 18-49 (11.6 vs. 9.4 for NBC on 1/3/09), +24% among Adults 18-34 (9.7 vs. 7.8 for FOX on 1/8/09 and NBC on 1/3/09), +13% among Total Viewers (30.1 vs. 26.6 for NBC on 1/3/09) and +104% among Teens (10.8 vs. 5.3 for FOX on 1/8/09).
Last night's premiere of American Idol gave FOX the highest-rated night for any network in 11 months among Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34 (since 2/12/08).
FOX delivered its highest Tuesday night ratings in 11 months among Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34 (both since 2/12/08) and in one year among Teens and Total Viewers (both since 1/15/08).
FOX won the night among Adults 18-49, Total Viewers, Adults 18-34, Teens and all key demos. In fact, FOX outperformed the combined four network competition (ABC, CBS, NBC, CW) for the night by +17% in Adults 18-49 (11.6 vs. 9.9), +23% in Adults 18-34 (9.7 vs. 7.9), +145% among Teens (10.8 vs. 4.4) and its nearest competitor for the night, CBS by +85% in Total Viewers (30.1 vs. 16.3 Mil).
