‘Idol’ fatigue? Think again “american idol” mints money for fox and news Corp

Category internet, Magazine | Permalink | 22. February 2007

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News Corp.’s Fox is in fourth place, last among major networks. But with ratings monster ‘American Idol’ coming back, it could easily leap from worst to first.

The calendar may say January. But now the new TV season can begin in earnest.

Sure, the broadcast networks brought back most of their hit shows in September and October. But the biggest blockbuster of them all, Fox’s “American Idol,” has its season premiere on Tuesday.
Fox sorely needs “American Idol” to do well. According to data from Nielsen Media Research, Fox was in fourth place in the overall prime-time ratings race, as well as in the battle for the critical 18-49-year-old demographic that advertisers crave, through the first sixteen weeks of the 2006-2007 TV season.

This is familiar territory for Fox, though. The company was in fourth with 18-49-year-olds at this time last year and still went on to win the 18-49 ratings race for the second consecutive season, largely because of “American Idol.”

Last season, an average of 31.2 million viewers watched the “American Idol” performance shows on Tuesday nights, while 30.2 million tuned in for the results episode on Wednesday nights. That made “American Idol” the most watched shows on TV by far. (CBS’s “CSI” came in third with an average of 24.6 million viewers.)

But this season, Fox is in a deeper hole. Many of its new shows, including “Justice” and “Vanished,” were disappointments, and the network suffered from low ratings for this year’s World Series baseball championship.

Meanwhile, Walt Disney (Charts)-owned ABC and CBS (Charts) are in a dead heat for first place with 18-49-year-olds. But the big surprise is that GE’s (Charts) NBC, which has finished in fourth in this demographic for the past two years, is also a contender for the number-one spot. NBC’s ratings have surged this year thanks to the success of the hit new show “Heroes” and “Sunday Night Football.”

Fox’s parent company News Corp. (Charts) acknowledges that the start to the fall TV season was weaker than it hoped for. But News Corp. believes “American Idol” could lead Fox to a third consecutive ratings victory with 18-49-year-olds.

“I do think that with the quarter we just finished, we’ve been straightforward and public about not being happy with the results,” said News Corp. President and Chief Operating Officer Peter Chernin about Fox at Citigroup’s annual entertainment, media and telecommunications conference in Las Vegas Tuesday. “That being said, it’s January and hope springs eternal for Fox since ‘Idol’ goes on the air.”

Several media buyers also think that writing off Fox would be a mistake since “American Idol” should come back as strong as, if not stronger than, ever.

“It’s going to be a big hit and will be a great place for advertisers to be. We believe that ‘American Idol’ is event TV and it has all the perks that go with that, high ratings and large reach. It’s a water cooler event,” said Jackie Kulesza, a vice president and director with Starcom USA, a media buyer based in Chicago.