Lost Hangs Tough Against Improved Idol Finale
Even if it answered little else, the season finale of ABC's Lost did show that going up against FOX's American Idol isn't necessarily a suicide mission.
Both Lost and Idol pulled in big audiences -- more than 50 million viewers combined -- on Wednesday (May 25), the final night of the 2004-05 TV season. ABC's scheduling of Lost opposite the Idol finale -- both shows ran two hours -- was seen as something of a risk, but the move didn't appear to affect the audience for either program.
Lost, which answered a couple of questions about the plane-crash survivors but left others wide open, averaged 20.7 million viewers and a very healthy 7.8 rating in the key ad sales demographic of adults 18-49. That's the series' third-best performance in both measures, behind only two January episodes that followed a month-long hiatus for the holiday season.
Somewhat surprisingly, the finale also delivered the show's best-ever rating (5.4) among teenagers, who make up a huge portion of the Idol audience as well.
As for Idol, the crowning of Carrie Underwood as this year's champ averaged 30.3 million viewers and a 12.5 adults 18-49 rating over its two hours. That's an improvement over last year's final episode, which drew 28.8 million people and a 12.0 rating in the 18-49 demo.
The Ruben-Clay showdown in season two remains the FOX show's biggest finale to date; it drew just over 38 million viewers in May 2003.
ZAP2it 5/26/05
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