Los Angeles: Fox television heads into the year's biggest advertisement sales period later this month with questions about the future of its ratings champ American Idol, but a better economy, among several factors, should buoy the show's ad revenue, experts said.

Viewership has slipped on the singing contest, and its hold on the No. 1 position in US TV is being challenged. Fan buzz among America's music-loving youth seems to have shifted to musical Glee, and at the end of this season, top Idol star, judge Simon Cowell, will leave the programme.

Fox executives said there will be no announcement on Cowell's successor when the network presents its 2010-11 programmes to advertisers at their annual upfront presentation on May 17, nor before the American Idol finale on May 26.

But like a struggling contestant getting a "judge's save" on Idol, which gives that person another chance to compete, viewer-based advertising is being propped up by signs of recovery in the ad market, as well as by Idol's continued dominance over most of its rival TV shows, analysts said. "I don't think they will be able to get sky-high prices. But advertisers still need mass audiences, and although the show is getting fewer people watching, they are still getting the biggest crowd you can get," said Brian Steinberg, TV editor of Advertising Age.

Currently, Idol is averaging 24.4 million viewers a show, down 7.5 per cent from 26.4 million in 2009 and well off 2006's high of about 30.8 million.

Executives at Fox, a unit of News Corp. say the slide is not unusual for a nine-year-old programme and add that in the 18-49 age group prized by advertisers, it is down just 8 per cent and still 72 per cent ahead of its nearest rival.

Slipping popularity

  • Fan buzz among America's music-loving youth seems to have shifted to musical Glee, and at the end of this season, top Idol star, judge Simon Cowell, will leave the programme.
  • Like a struggling contestant getting a "judge's save" on Idol, which gives that person another chance to compete, viewer-based advertising is being propped up by signs of recovery in the ad market.
  • Currently, Idol is averaging 24.4 million viewers a show, down 7.5 per cent from 26.4 million in 2009 and well off 2006's high of about 30.8 million.