‘American Idol’ Can’t Beat ‘The Voice,’ But At Least It Did Better Than ‘Bachelor’ Arie — Ratings Watch

This… was the lowest-rated premiere ever for an “American Idol” season since its first season back in 2002.

But the show’s Sunday night return on ABC did improve to 11.8 million viewers (from 10.5 million) after three days of DVR and VOD usage — and no one expected “Idol” to suddenly return to the glory days of the mid 2000s, when the show would open as high as 37 million viewers.It’s a different age, and “Idol’s” premiere rating — a 2.7 among adults 18-49 in Live+3 (up from 2.3 in L+Sd) — is actually a remarkable feat for ABC.

It was ABC’s most-watched Sunday series telecast since March 2014.But “Idol” isn’t cheap — Katy Perry alone is costing the network and producer FremantleMedia a cool $25 million.

Executives at rival networks, many of whom kicked the tires on the franchise’s return, say there’s no way ABC will break even on the show.

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