- This is the 17th season for the long running reality show.
- ‘American Idol’ was on Fox for the first 15 seasons, this is the show’s second season on ABC.
- ‘American Idol’ Top 10 Performances airs April 21 at 8:00 PM Eastern.
Is there anyone in North America (or most of the rest of the world for that matter) that isn’t familiar with American Idol or the general format of the show? Probably not. If you’ve been in solitary confinement for the last 15 years I’ll bring you up to speed. American Idol first aired on ABC in 2002 and became a surprise hit. One year later, it became a massive ratings juggernaut and would go on to be the highest rated show on television for seven consecutive seasons.
Like every other broadcast TV show in the digital era, the viewership has dropped off precipitously in recent years. In 2005 through 2007 it was pulling in an average of 30 million viewers plus per week. It its final year on Fox it brought in an average in the low to mid 11 million range. Last year was the first on ABC and ‘the show averaged in low to mid 7 million viewer range. This season they’re doing similar numbers for the live broadcast but they’re drawing nearly two million DVR viewers a week. In 2019, ABC has to be thrilled to be bringing in 20 million pairs of eyeballs (give or take an eye or two) a week on their 17 year old reality show.
Even with the boost from DVR viewing it’s mind boggling to contemplate that American Idol has shed over 20 million weekly viewers in under a decade. The simple reality is that the entertainment landscape is completely different today than the world that American Idol was originally born into. In context of this, the show is holding up pretty well and barring a complete collapse in ratings are in pretty good shape for the future. American Idol will likely be on ABC as long as the producers want to continue making the show. Any show that can aggregate multiple millions of viewers per week can write its own ticket on broadcast TV circa 2019. In the week ending April 14, the Sunday episode of American Idol pulled a 1.3 rating and ranked as the #7 broadcast TV show of the week. The Monday ‘recap’ show pulled a 1.1 rating to tie for #11. The past few weeks have been atypical from a ratings standpoint due to CBS’ broadcasting of the NCAA tournament but going back to the week ending March 17–the last before the start of ‘March Madness’ the American Idol Sunday broadcast pulled….a 1.3 rating good for 7th place (there was no Monday show that week).
American Idol considers the final 8 contestants as ‘Finalists’ which means that two will be cut this week. Here are the American Idol Top Ten Performances episode betting odds:
‘AMERICAN IDOL’ SEASON 17 BETTING ODDS
TO WIN ‘AMERICAN IDOL’ SEASON 17
Laine Hardy +300
Alejandro Aranda +350
Madison VanDenburg +350
Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon +600
Laci Kaye Booth +750
Walker Burroughs +750
Alyssa Raghu +1500
Wade Cota +1500
Dimitrius Graham +2500
Uche +2500
WILL ABC RENEW ‘AMERICAN IDOL’ FOR THE 2019-2020 TV SEASON?
Yes -350
No +300
‘AMERICAN IDOL’ SEASON 17 SUNDAY SHOW AVERAGE KEY DEMO RATING AS OF WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24?
Over 1.3 -130
Under 1.3 +110
‘AMERICAN IDOL’ SEASON 17 SUNDAY SHOW AVERAGE VIEWERSHIP AS OF WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24?
Over 7.24 Million -170
Under 7.24 Million +150
The previous two propositions will be graded using data from the TV Series Finale website.
‘AMERICAN IDOL’ SEASON 17 TOP TEN PERFORMANCES BETTING ODDS
WILL LAINE HARDY ADVANCE TO THE FINALS?
Yes -1500
No +750
WILL ALEJANDRO ARANDA ADVANCE TO THE FINALS?
Yes -1500
No +750
WILL MADISON VANDENBURG ADVANCE TO THE FINALS?
Yes -1500
No +750
WILL JEREMIAH LLOYD HARMON ADVANCE TO THE FINALS?
Yes -2500
No +1250
WILL LACI KAYE BOOTH ADVANCE TO THE FINALS?
Yes -750
No +600
WILL WALKER BURROUGHS ADVANCE TO THE FINALS?
Yes -600
No +450
WILL ALYSSA RAGHU ADVANCE TO THE FINALS?
Yes +180
No -210
WILL WADE COTA ADVANCE TO THE FINALS?
Yes -600
No +450
WILL DIMITRIUS GRAHAM ADVANCE TO THE FINALS?
Yes +300
No -350
WILL UCHE ADVANCE TO THE FINALS?
Yes -150
No +130
EPISODE 14 KEY DEMO (18-49) RATINGS
Over 1.25 -150
Under 1.25 +130
EPISODE 14 KEY DEMO (18-49) SHARE
5 or higher -750
Under 5 +600
EPISODE 14 TOTAL VIEWERS
Over 7.15 million -150
Under 7.15 million +130
EPISODE 14 RATINGS KEY DEMO SUNDAY RANKING
#1 -350
Any other rank +300
FINALS WEEK 1 APRIL 22 RATINGS KEY DEMO WEEKLY RANKING
#7 or higher -210
#8 or lower +180
The previous five TV ratings propositions will be graded using data reported at TV By The Numbers.
