‘American Idol’ Blasts Off With Biggest Season Debut in Four Years

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• “American Idol” returned for a new season jumping to 8.27 million Total Viewers and a 1.04 rating among Adults 18-49 after three days of viewing on ABC, Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and digital platforms.
• In multiplatform viewing, the show rose +20% among Total Viewers versus the previous season premiere (8.27 million vs. 6.88 million) and +7% in Adults 18-49 (1.04 rating vs. 0.97 rating), with the show’s best premiere performance among Total Viewers in four years — since 2/27/22.
• On linear over three days, the “American Idol” season premiere was the No. 1 show of the night on broadcast and cable among both Total Viewers (7.23 million) and Adults 18-49 (0.72 rating), also earning its best premiere performance among Total Viewers in four years — since 2/27/22.

Source: Nielsen National Live+3 Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings for 1/26/26 and ABC Multiplatform+3 Day Ratings. 24/25 based on Big Data Plus Panel, while prior years are panel-only. Comparisons exclude out-of-time-period post-Oscars sneak-peek episode on 3/2/25.

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