Idol helping late news on Fox affiliates

While Fox has become very competitive with American Idol, Fox affiliates’ prime-time newscasts – which usually trail the big three network stations in any given market – now often beats them on nights when Idol is on, particularly in adults 18-49. WBFF is an example of this – the Sinclair-owned Fox affiliate in Baltimore beats market leaders NBC affiliate WBAL-TV […]

The Ten’s ratings problem exposing problems at another station

WFLD-TV’s new 10 p.m. newscast called The Ten is clearly struggling in the ratings – but the program is skewing younger, and is exposing problems at crosstown rival WBBM-TV with their 10 p.m. newscast. According to an article in the Sun-Times today, The Fox-owned station’s newscast has surprisingly beat the CBS-owned station’s late newscast in the household ratings on some […]

Idol finale slips 19 percent from last year

Just 29.5 million tuned in to last night’s Blake-Jordin showdown, down from 36.4 million last year. Among adults 18-49, Idol nabbed a 11.1, below its season average. In Chicago, Idol nabbed a 28 household share, but it was outdrawn by Dancing With The Stars with a 30 household share. But to put it all in perspective, this year’s NFC Championship […]

Thank God it’s over

The winner of American Idol (if you care) is….. But we all know who the real winner of Idol is: Sanjaya. The best part of this is we don’t have to hear about Paula or Simon until January. But it would be even better if we didn’t have to hear from Paula, Simon, or this fraud of a show ever […]

Yawn

Who will it be tonight? Blake or Jordin on Idol? Aw, who cares? Judging by last night ratings, more and more people are taking that same position.Yeah, a colorful cast of characters. Paula. Simon. Sanjaya. Where’s Elvis and his gun when you need him? (Update): Just how many worn-out pop songs the contestants are going to sing tonight?

Analysis on the new Fox and CW schedules

I decided to put the analysis of the Fox and CW schedules on this post instead of “burying” them after the announced fall schedules on separate posts. So here goes…. Fox: Because of post-season baseball and the return of American Idol and 24 in January, Fox’s schedule next season is separated into two parts, with an emphasis on midseason. The […]

Idol wallops

Michael Wilbon of PTI may not have been watching, but the rest of America was: American Idol drew 37.3 million viewers, the second-highest total in the program’s history-a 15.7/38 rating/share among the money demo (A 18-49) and a 20.3/30 among households (In Chicago, Idol drew a 20.1/30, about average.) Meanwhile, way, way, waaaaaaaaayyyyyy on the opposite end of the ratings […]