American Idol 'winding down'

The future of 21st Century Fox’s hit reality series American Idol is
in doubt after the firm’s president said the show was “winding down.”


American Idol has been a mainstay on Fox since 2002, with series
finales proving to be the channel’s most-watched shows for eight years
in a row up until 2011, attracting more than 36 million viewers in 2006
and 31 million in 2008.


The show’s finale last year attracted an audience of just over 14
million, however, and 21st Century Fox president Chase Carey said poor
ratings for Idol and stablemate The X Factor had hit advertising
revenues at the company’s TV unit.


Carey admitted during a conference call with analysts that ratings
had “fallen faster than we hoped,” adding: “We know American Idol is
winding down.”


American Idol was created by Simon Fuller and 19 Entertainment and is
distributed by FremantleMedia North America, which coproduces with Core
Media Group.


Core president Marc Graboff told C21
ahead of the latest season of Idol that he was “cautiously optimistic”
the changes that had been made to the show would bear fruit, but
acknowledged the format was in decline. The firm is looking to grow in
other ways.


Meanwhile, Fremantle is also making contingency plans for both Idol
and X Factor’s inevitable slowdown in popularity, branching out into
drama and exploring a takeover of All3Media.


Carey’s comments came after the release of 21st Century’s quarterly
results, which saw operating income before depreciation and amortisation
at the broadcast TV division fall by 11% on the same period last year.
Revenue from the firm’s cable networks rose 14%, however, and Carey was
positive about the acquisition of The Simpsons for its new network FXX, which launched in September.


Overall revenue rose to US$8.16bn from US$7.11bn at the firm, which
was formed last summer after the newspaper and publishing divisions of
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp were split away from its broadcasting and
film activities.


Part of that increase came after 21st Century’s acquisition of a
controlling stake in German satcaster Sky Deutschland, which saw revenue
jump by 66% to US$1.52bn.