‘American Idol’ Hits High Note With Biggest Debut Audience in Four Years

Setting the tone for the coming months, season 24 of American Idol kicked off with a memorable premiere. Returning for yet another season, Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan, and Carrie Underwood took their seats to help find the next superstar. Throughout the season premiere, fans met contestants like Keyla Richardson, Khloe Grace, Lucas Leon, and more. With the first episode featuring some hilarious moments, a proposal, and more than a few tears, it appeared American Idol was the winner as it had its best season premiere in years. 

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While kicking off the era of singing competition, American Idol found itself fighting for viewers when it came to other shows like The Voice. Although both shows brought a different format to their competitions, The Voice continuously beat American Idol when it came to viewership. But since making its debut on ABC, the show slowly climbed the charts. 

Now, ABC announced that season 24 was its biggest debut in four years. Looking at the numbers, the season 23 premiere gained 4.49 million viewers. On Monday, season 24 brought in nearly 6 million fans.

[RELATED: ‘American Idol’ Season 24 Could Be Another Big Year for Mississippi Talent]

‘American Idol’ Showrunner Wants To “Fire” Fans Up

At the helm of American Idol was showrunner Megan Michaels Wolflick. Although thrilled about the numbers, she remained focused on keeping the show at the forefront of change. “There’s always an immense amount of pressure regarding how we level up. What do we do that’s different? We don’t know who is going to come across our door, but we want to use the momentum of last season to bring in new people and fire them up.”   

Embracing the age of social media, American Idol announced a new form of voting. Allowing fans to vote via social media, the producers worked to put the finishing touches on the new voting system before the live shows. 

Always grateful for the fans who continued to watch season after season, Wolflick wanted to keep that base growing. “If we can get Gen Alpha and Gen Z to weigh in a little bit more in the easiest way possible, that’s very exciting. It could tip the scale. Trends are always different.”

With American Idol producing big numbers, big auditions, and big names, don’t miss a new episode, airing Mondays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and available to stream the following day on Hulu. 

(Photo by Eric McCandless/Disney via Getty Images)