'American Idol': Will another TV show ever experience the same success?
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
The incredibly popular singing competition 鈥淎merican Idol鈥� is drawing to a close after 15 years, with the first episode of the final season of 鈥淚dol鈥� debuting on Jan. 6.聽
In its heyday, the show experienced massive TV ratings. While the extent to which the winner of 鈥淚dol鈥� experienced success has varied season by season, in its early days it was a ratings juggernaut. The Idol season finale shows consistently pulled in 22-38 million viewers until the decline began in Season 11 (). But it鈥檚 been a long time since 鈥淚dol鈥� crowned a household name.
Meanwhile, NBC鈥檚 鈥淭he Voice,鈥� which is also a music competition, albeit with a different format, has become a ratings hit itself.聽
As 鈥淚dol鈥� returns, those at Fox are no doubt hoping the publicity surrounding a final season will attract more viewers than those who tuned in last year, with the first part of the Season 13 finale becoming the lowest-rated installment in the show鈥檚 history.聽
With the prevalence of cable and streaming shows, expectations around TV audience size have changed a lot since 鈥淚dol鈥� came on the air in 2002. The show experienced its highest ratings with the Season 2 finale, when Ruben Studdard took the crown and 38 million viewers watched him do it.聽
In our current TV age, can any program experience anything like those ratings again?
Reliably one-off major events like the Super Bowl and the Oscars are still experiencing massive audience numbers, of course. Last year鈥檚 NFL football showdown saw , with more than 114 million viewers watching. And while last year were gloomy in comparison to other years, they were still almost as good as that Season 2 鈥淚dol鈥� finale, with more than 37 million viewers.
Pro football is also consistently strong TV draw. But even 鈥淪unday Night Football鈥� is far behind the highest-rated episode of 鈥淚dol,鈥� with the program drawing an of more than 20 million total viewers during the 2014-2015 TV season.
To continue the comparison, one of the biggest broadcast ratings smashes of our time, the CBS sitcom 鈥淭he Big Bang Theory,鈥� has averaged almost the same size audience as NFL football, with an of about 19 million viewers for the 2014-2015 TV season.
Was 鈥淚dol鈥� just a phenomenon that will never be seen again? Perhaps. But comparing the success of 鈥淚dol鈥� to the success of 鈥淰oice,鈥� a still-running musical competition show, is also interesting. NBC鈥檚 鈥淰oice鈥� is definitely a hit, but its was a little more than 13 million viewers, a far cry from that 2003 highest-rated 鈥淚dol鈥� episode.
