Carrie Underwood performing her new single just after she won.
As the Malaysian Idol starts it's second season beginning March 27,
American Idol has just ended its current season as over 29M watched
Carrie Underwood win 'Idol'.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Nearly 30 million viewers tuned in to see
country singer Carrie Underwood crowned the latest winner on Fox
television's "American Idol," capping the most watched season yet
for the prime-time talent contest.
The two-hour "Idol" finale topped the last night of the 2004-2005
TV season with 29.4 million viewers overall, including about 15.8
million aged 18 to 49 -- the young-adult audience most coveted by
advertisers, Nielsen Media Research reported on Thursday.
As expected, that tally clinched Fox's victory as the season's
No. 1 network for 18-49 ratings, the measure broadcasters
generally regard as the most important benchmark of prime-time
success.
The fourth edition of "Idol," America's most watched TV series
this year, ended with Underwood, 22, edging out long-haired rocker
and fellow finalist Bo Bice as the favorite among viewers who cast
their votes by telephone and text messages.
Underwood, raised on an Oklahoma farm, becomes the latest
contestant to win the show's grand prize of a professional recording
contract.
According to Fox, some 500 million votes were cast in all this season,
more than four times the number of ballots tallied in last year's U.S.
presidential election. However, "American Idol" fans routinely cast
multiple votes for their favorite contestants, as the show's ground
rules allow.
The series has become a TV and music industry sensation since first
hitting the U.S. airwaves in 2002, turning several of its winners
and runners-up into overnight recording stars while the show
continues to grow in popularity.
The latest "American Idol" competition as a whole averaged 26.5
million viewers this season, surpassing the three previous
installments of the talent search. And Underwood proved a bigger
draw than her immediate predecessor, Fantasia Barrino.
But the conclusion to season two, when Ruben Studdard triumphed
over Clay Aiken, generated a larger audience than Wednesday
night's finale.
In terms of head-to-head competition in prime time, Wednesday's
"Idol" broadcast bested the two-hour finale of ABC's hit castaway
thriller "Lost."
Nevertheless, the night's two big-event finales combined averaged
50 million total viewers and drew half of all 18- to-49-year-olds
who were watching TV from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Fox is owned by News Corp. Inc. while ABC is owned by Walt Disney Co.
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