American Idol Finale Gets Lowest Ratings Ever But Remains #1
[/caption]Despite the record 100 million votes that came in Tuesday night for American Idol finalists Kris Allen and Adam Lambert, last night's season finale, in which Kris Allen was crowned the newest American Idol, had the lowest ratings of any American Idol finale in eight years.
The show averaged a 10.0 rating in adults 18-49 (meaning 10 percent of 18-year-olds with TV sets were watching), a 12% drop from last season.
Though Idol had lower ratings than any previous season's finale, it still blew the competition out of the water with 28.8 million viewers. Idol has had the most consecutive #1 ratings for any program since Nielsen ratings were introduced, so it is clear that it's an extremely successful show.
But is Idol on the decline? Was last night's decrease in viewers a sign that the show is fading in popularity? Eight seasons is a long time for any show to be on the air, much less a reality competition, and it's hard to imagine a world without American Idol, but it will lose momentum eventually. Let's just hope the show can survive a few more seasons, because we'd be sad to see Idol go.
