Its’s happening again. The once almighty American Idol gets dethroned in the ratings – AGAIN – by a CBS show. 
This time it was NCIS on a Tuesday night. For the first time ever, NCIS outdrew American Idol in total viewers. Last night, Fox aired a special edition of Idol from 8-10p.m. Idol drew in 15.6 million viewers compared to NCIS‘ 18 million viewers. This never even happened when the two were in the same timeslot years ago, battling each other every week.
If you want to add more fuel to the Idol fire, if you combine the total viewers for NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles from 8-10p.m. last night against Idol, those two shows averaged 16.8 million total viewers, 1 million more viewers than American Idol.
One thing Fox can brag about is the coveted 18-49 demo that advertisers love. Even though the NCIS duo beat Idol in total viewers, Idol trumped both shows in the demo. Idol pulled a 5.0 vs. NCIS‘ 3.4 – a season low for the series. The two NCIS‘ only averaged a 3.2 over the 2-hour span.
Just last week, The Big Bang Theory beat American Idol in total viewers and in the 18-49 demo.
Another win for CBS.
Down with “Idol”! It’s been #1 for an unprecedented eight years. Time to cede the crown.