Tv Ratings, American Idol Season 12 | featured news

In the heyday of "American Idol," the notion that it could fall ratings victim to a zombie slugfest or standard crime drama would have been laughable... When it comes to advertising dollars, the series "will have the top price for the 2012-13 season," said analyst Jon Swallen of Kantar Media. Last season, "American Idol" grossed a leading $836 million in ad revenue.

Ending its three-night live round, American Idol (3.5/10) pared it down to the final 10 contestants of Season 12 on Thursday. Spilling two minutes over, the scheduled 90-minute live show had a lot of Ryan Seacrest shuttling back and forth to the holding room to bring the lucky ones back on stage. It also had a mixed bag of ratings results.

On the second night of its three-night live round American Idol (3.7/10) saw a surprising flameout by contestant Charlie Askew over criticism from the judges. Besides the profound dismay from judge Nicki Minaj over Askew’s performance, the two-hour show also saw Idol continue its weekly Wednesday ratings slide.