“Idol” Tops Obama

The TV networks have known for years that ”American Idol” is a sure ratings champ, but last night they found out that the show is even more powerful than the President. On Tuesday night, “Idol” beat out prime-time coverage of the presidential inauguration on ABC, and also beat the other networks’ inauguration coverage for the evening.

According to early data from Nielsen Media Research, ”Idol”scored an 8.9 rating/22 share among adults 18-49 and a 12.1/18 in households, with a total audience of 22.4 million viewers in the 8 p.m. slot. ABC’s “The Neighborhood Ball: An Inauguration Celebration” averaged a 3.7/9 in the same demo and a 7.9/12 among households, drawing an audience of 12.6 million from 8-10 p.m.

But does this really show the strength of  ”Idol” or the fact that by 8 p.m., the inauguration coverage had been going on for more than 12 hours?

 

 

 

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