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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
A crowd at Dave & Buster's at Victoria Ward Centers watched Camile Velasco compete last month in "American Idol." The show has helped boost KHON's ratings to the top among its Fox affiliates nationwide.
KHON a winner
"American Idol's" local popularity
has been a success for the stationCamile's coming home, Jasmine's still in (please see story in News), but local pride and great interest in the "American Idol" aspirations of the two Hawaii singers have helped put KHON-TV at the top of the prime time television ratings in Honolulu. Separately, Fox Network has ranked KHON as its top affiliate.
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged, goes the Biblical admonition.
Nevertheless, you can barely turn a corner without hearing a critique on the most recent "American Idol" performance of Maryknoll student Jasmine Trias, Maui IHOP waitress Camile Velasco or other contestants.
Cubicle-side conversations in offices have wondered aloud how it was possible that young, red-haired lounge-style crooner John Stevens has gotten enough telephoned- and text-messaged votes to stay on the show this long.
Though local people still support Trias and Velasco, fans have agreed that both need to ramp up their performances to stay in the running against the likes of Fantasia Barrino, George Huff and La Toya London.
"She picked the wrong song," one lady said to another yesterday in a sandwich line. That was before we knew Camile and her now-popular reggae-colored wristborne sweatband would bid "aloha."
"When you're talking 'American Idol' you're talking about a show that has captured the zeitgeist of America," said Scott Grogin, vice president of corporate communications for Fox Broadcasting,a sister subsidiary of Fox Network.
"'American Idol' does a high-30 share in (the 18 to 49 year old) demo(graphic)," he said. That means more than one-third of all people of that age group who are watching television are watching "AI."
It's a number any network would kill to have.
From the start of its third season in January through Tuesday night, the show has averaged 26.5 million viewers a week, putting it in first place among all programs. "American Idol" on Tuesday night is No. 1, "CSI" is No. 2 and "American Idol" on Wednesday night, the results-show, is No. 3, Grogin said.
The highest-rated entertainment show last year, "Joe Millionaire," garnered a 40-share in the demo, Grogin said. The granddaddy of TV ratings is the Superbowl. "The Superbowl in a bad year does low-60s."
Grogin declined to provide national numbers to show how Hawaii's "American Idol" mania measures up, because the local numbers reflect February only, while the national numbers are nearly up-to-the-minute.
Overall viewership of "AI" is up 13 to 15 percent from 2003.
"The audience for 'American Idol' is broadening," Grogin said. "People are watching it as families."
And nobody has to see somebody eat worms or be trapped in a box full of hairy spiders.
"No. It's a very aspirational show and it harkens back to the earliest days of television variety shows," Grogin said.
"American Idol" gets a 37 household rating and a 56 share at 7 p.m. Tuesdays. That means 37 percent of Hawaii's TV households are watching the show, and of all TVs that are on, more than half are tuned to American Idol. At 7:30 p.m. it goes up to a 38 rating and a 57 share, said Linda Brock, marketing director for KHON and sister-station KGMB. The shorter Wednesday night "AI" gets smaller, but still huge viewership with a 30 household rating and a 49 share. It is the highest-rated show among women from 25 to 54 years old, she said.
The show helps Fox nationally, though last week the network was third behind CBS and NBC.
Meanwhile, the local Fox affiliate can boast a top rating among its sister stations around the country.
KHON2 is the clear leader among Fox stations in markets where ratings are measured via viewer diaries. It has a 6.8 rating and 21 percent of adult viewers aged 18 to 49 in prime time.
In larger markets, ratings information is gathered electronically, via meters. In a list combining all Fox markets, KHON is tied for No. 4 with Columbus, Ohio.
However, "if Hawaii was a metered market, we would be No. 1 as well," said Rick Blangiardi, senior vice president for Emmis Communications Corp., which owns both KHON and KGMB-TV.
The strength of Fox shows like "American Idol" and the station's dominant local newscasts combined to boost KHON's performance in relation to its mainland sisters, Brock said.
The broad appeal and viewership of the show provides the type of environment advertisers want their commercials to be seen in.
A Star-Bulletin story in October estimated the cost of a 30-second AI commercial at $500,000, a figure Grogin would not confirm.
Blangiardi joked about the cost. "We're asking $1 million a spot but so far ... we've just negotiated some other number," he laughed.
How KHON measures up
This list ranks markets in which Nielsen ratings are gathered from diaries filled out by viewers, and does not include larger markets.
1. Honolulu
2. Chico-Redding, Calif.
3. Eureka, Calif.
4. South Bend, Ind.
5. Fresno, Calif.
6. Harrisburg, Pa.
7. Fairbanks, Alaska
8. Springfield, Mo.
9. Rockford, Ill.
10. Grand Rapids, Mich.Source: KHON
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at: eengle@starbulletin.com
