March 29, 2024

On Night of Big Finales, ‘Office’ Rises and ‘Idol’ Falls

On a busy night of finales for television favorites, “The Office” regained a little of its former glory, “Scandal” demonstrated it may have more glory to come and “American Idol” looked like a pale shadow of past glory.

Even with “The Office” signing off for a last time, the big ratings news Thursday night was made by “Idol,” which ended a lackluster season — its 12th with a drop of more than 40 percent in the ratings.

The numbers for “Idol” and “The Office” were somewhat preliminary because both ran past 10 p.m., and their best numbers most likely came after the measured hour. But by Fox’s own estimate of where “Idol” will end up, its finale will be down 42 percent in the category its advertisers most care about, viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, from a 6.4 rating last season to a 3.7 this season.

By current network standards a 3.7 in that viewing group is a solid number, especially for a 12-year-old show. But for the once mighty “Idol,” it is a precipitous fall. It wasn’t even the best rating of the night in that group, topped by the 4.4 scored by CBS’s comedy hit “The Big Bang Theory.”

And over all, “Idol” shed more than seven million viewers compared with last year’s finale, with a total of 14.2 million viewers (by Fox’s estimate) down, from 21.5 million last season. Even more telling is the vertiginous drop from two years ago. That finale scored a 9.2 rating in the 18-49 group and attracted 29.3 million viewers.

As for “The Office,” the finale, which ran 1 hour and 15 minutes, recorded a 3.0 rating in the 18-49 group, the show’s best in 16 months; no episode has been higher since November of 2011. The finale also averaged 5.7 million viewers, the best since January 2012.

ABC’s “Scandal,” perhaps the hottest drama on television, had its best total viewer number ever, with about 9.1 million, and it matched its best rating ever in the 18-49 group, a 3.2.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/18/business/media/on-night-of-big-finales-office-rises-and-idol-falls.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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