TV Ratings: "American Idol" Is Bleeding!

Uh-oh! Is it just me or do I see a downward spiral in these ratings for "American Idol"? Last night, FOX's reality competition hit a new season low of 25,65 million total viewers. To prove the point, here are the show's ratings since its sixth cycle premiered back in January.

"American Idol" kicked off its sixth season with a mammoth 36,94 million viewers during a 2-hour event on January 16. If we disregard Wednesday and occasional Thursday night editions (which are normally lower rated anyway) here are the numbers the show posted over the past couple of months:

January 16 - 36,94 million
January 23 - 31,17 million
January 30 - 33,29 million
February 6 - 33,07 million
February 13 - 30,97 million
February 20 - 29,44 million
February 27 - 30,44 million
March 6 - 27,80 million
March 13 - 29,39 million
March 20 - 29,43 million
March 27 - 26,84 million
April 3 - 25,65 million

Of course, 25 million people tuning in still gives you a major blockbuster, but has the lackluster talent mix or the Sanjaya phenomenon caught up with the ratings and deteriorated the Idol brand?

The weeks ahead will tell. If the trend continues it will be clear something is wrong. If the numbers improve this will only be a minor blip.

Year-to-year Idol is also down; at this time last year the show averaged over 30 million viewers.

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