Friday, July 24, 2026

TV Ratings: “American Idol” Hits Series All Time Low, Down 17% from Last Week

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“American Idol” will finish its season this month with a whimper. Last night’s half hour results show hit an all time series ratings low: 6.92 million total viewers, with a 1.5 rating in the key demo. It ranked third at 9pm after “Two a Half Men” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” It was the 7th most watched show on broadcast TV for the whole night. The “I Heart Radio Awards” beat it in the demo, but not the audience. The Wednesday “Idol” did slightly better. But it shows that with any competition now,”Idol” is an afterthought for viewers.  And for youngish audience, the interest is minimal at best. Two more weeks and the agony is over. Then Fox has to figure what the heck to do next.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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