| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 10.0 | 2.8/8 | 1.4/4 | 1.3/4 | 1.2/3 | 0.4/1 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 7.6 | 1.7/5 | 1.4/4 | 0.9/3 | 1.0/3 | 0.4/1 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 28.84 | 11.06 | 3.52 | 5.32 | 3.42 | 1.27 |
The American Idol finale averaged 28.8 million and a 10.0 rating among adults 18-49 in time zone adjusted preliminary numbers between 8pm-10:07pm. Last year's two hour Wednesday finale drew 30.6 million and a 11.0 rating with adults 18-49 in preliminary (non time zone adjusted) numbers. In the final live plus same day ratings numbers for last year's finale, Idol wound up at 31.7 million and an 11.4 adults 18-49 rating. Since the time zone adjusted preliminary numbers will likely track closely with the finals it looks Idol was down around 9% in total viewers and 13% for adults 18-49. DVR viewing beyond the same night might bring things a little closer to last year, but we won't know for a few weeks.
For anyone who cares, in the NON time-zone adjusted numbers, Idol averaged 27.71 million and a 9.6/27 (rating/share) with adults 18-49 between 8pm-10pm.
Only CBS even tried to put up a fight, with finales of Old Christine, Gary Unmarried and a two hour Criminal Minds finale (which performed admirably, given the circumstances!)
Update: data now included below and I've included the half hour data, plus the final seven minutes for Idol (check out those last 7 minutes!) Please note the Idol data is time-zone adjusted but the other shows/networks data below isn't...
Previous Wednesday overnight reports are available for comparison.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating/Share | 18-34 Rating/Share | Viewers (Millons) |
| 8:00 | FOX | American Idol Finale (8pm-10:07) | 10.00 | 7.6 | 28.84 |
| CBS | New Adventures of Old Christine (Finale) | 1.6/5 | 1.0/4 | 5.65 | |
| NBC | Law & Order: CI | 1.1/3 | 0.6/2 | 4.96 | |
| ABC | Movie: Pirates of the Carribean (Dead Man..) | 1.0/3 | 1.0/3 | 3.42 | |
| CW | Movie: Take the Lead | 0.4/1 | 0.4/2 | 1.24 | |
| 8:30 | CBS | Gary Unmarried (Finale) | 1.7/5 | 1.0/3 | 5.55 |
| 9:00 | CBS | Criminal Minds (Finale) | 3.1/8 | 1.9/6 | 12.40 |
| ABC | Movie: Pirates of the Carribean (Dead Man..) | 1.2/3 | 1.1/3 | 3.27 | |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU (R) | 1.0/3 | 0.7/2 | 4.30 | |
| CW | Movie: Take the Lead | 0.5/1 | 0.5/2 | 1.30 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | Criminal Minds (Finale) | 3.9/10 | 2.2/7 | 15.17 |
| NBC | Law & Order | 1.9/5 | 1.4/4 | 6.70 | |
| ABC | Movie: Pirates of the Carribean (Dead Man..) | 1.3/3 | 1.2/3 | 3.58 | |
| 8:00 | American Idol Finale | 7.80 | 6 | 23.22 | |
| 8:30 | American Idol Finale | 8.90 | 6.6 | 26.53 | |
| 9:00 | American Idol Finale | 10.50 | 7.8 | 30.13 | |
| 9:30 | American Idol Finale | 11.70 | 9 | 32.85 | |
| 10:00-10:07 | American Idol Finale | 14.90 | 11.8 | 40.10 |
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Shows are sorted by Adults 18-49 rating in each time slot.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
Definitions:
Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the day after telecast, and are released to subscribing customers daily. These data, from the National People Meter sample, are strictly time-period information, based on the normal broadcast network feed, and include all programming on the affiliated stations, sometimes including network programming, sometimes not. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. For example, with a World Series game, Fast Affiliate Ratings would include whatever aired from 8-11PM on affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone, following the live football game, but not game coverage that begins at 5PM PT. The same would be true of Presidential debates as well as live award shows and breaking news reports.
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)
Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.
For more information see Numbers 101.
Glad Kris won.
Those are some pretty poor AI finale numbers — maybe everyone just “assumed” Adam would win and didn’t bother tuning in?
(what a shock THEY probably got!)
full data now posted.
while fox doesn’t want to be down 13%, I think this previous post is the most telling. http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/05/11/american-idol-will-be-raking-in-the-cash-for-years-or-at-least-until-2016/18451
my god 40 million in the last 7 minutes….
“10pm
NBC — Law & Order — 1.7/4 A18-49, 6.087 million viewers
10:30pm
NBC — L&O — 2.2/6 A18-49, 7.305 million viewers”
Nice jump at 10:30pm. Law & Order is still one of the best hour on TV.
Wow at Criminal Minds. It actually was able to put up some numbers against Idol.
I think between 26-40 million viewers is not poor. I know that this website is totally obsessed with the 18-49 share, but when you look at the big TV events in history (Who Shot JR, MASH Finale, Superbowl, etc.) nobody looks at the 18-49 share, they look at raw millions.
And 30 million is not too bad in today’s era of DVR and Youtube, and for a show that is in season # 8.
How nice of “American Idol” to address our great celebrity shortage by supplying yet another one. Whatever would we do without them? Imagine a world where talen had to be cultivated and grown instead of foist upon us.
It’s amazing to me that they suck 30 million people into this junk, but then, nobody ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
Alan, I think referring to total viewers and average viewers is completely appropriate for “historical” shows/events. It’s a benchmark that everyone can relate to.
What we try and help folks understand is that average viewership doesn’t pay the bills (or keep shows on the air), adults 18-49 viewership does.
Is it the first week since forever that L&O won vs SVU ?
Anyway, NBC is like completely depending on Law & Order franchise. How many hours of L&O this week ? I’m sure no less than 6 hours.
Judging by the 40 million people at the last seven minutes, looks like plenty of people tuned in for the important part – the winner
.
Alexis, next fall on NBC, out of 18 hours of NBC non-sports prime-time programming, Jay Leno will be reponsible for 5, and Dick Wolf (Law & Order creator) will be responsible for 3
Why in the world did CBS keep Gary unmarried?
Gary Unmarried (Finale) 1.7/5 1.0/3 5.55
Worst Week did better numbers than that.
I love how some people who don’t like AI think it’s fine to insult the intelligence of those who do. How classy.
Those are good numbers, keeping in mind that most everything is down from last year. Though I wanted Adam to win. Kris was good too, though.
Worst Week didn’t face the American Idol finale, so I’m not sure of the value of such comparisons. Worst Week also aired after Two and a Half Men — it could be argued Gary Unmarried would do just as well in that time slot as Worst Week did.
CBS New Adventures of Old Christine (Finale) 1.6/5 1.0/4 5.65
CBS Gary Unmarried (Finale) 1.7/5 1.0/3 5.55
Yeah, that’s not a problem or anything. Let’s just change 7 and a half other hours instead and keep this the same.
There is nothing to like about American Idol. It is a facade, wrapped up in a cheap, hyped-up production, wrapped up in a Disney Channel special. The fact that so many Americans watch it every week and get wrapped up in what is clearly preordained and orchestrated far ahead of time…
American idol numbers are great compared to the show average this year…
and i suspect that in this case with DVR the numbers could surpass last season.
NCIS spin-off at 8 pm next season was the best option for CBS. however they don’t think like me…
CM with a lead-in above 12 millions viewers easily make the same numbers of CSI (15/16 millions viewers 3.5-40 in the demo)…
CBS was not cleaver with the moves they did. but let’s wait for next season to see what happens…
The last 7 minutes includes a TON of people waiting for the 10 o’clock news to come on their local Fox station.