Dancing with the Stars beats American Idol for the first time, but Idol has younger viewers

More people watched Dancing with the Stars this week than American Idol 9 for the first time ever, though the Fox singing competition still draws well over twice as many young viewers as the senior citizen-heavy ABC dance competition.

The Los Angeles Times reports that “the Monday edition of ‘DWTS’ (23 million) beat out both the Tuesday (21.8 million) and Wednesday (20.5 million) editions of ‘Idol’ for the first time ever,” but that “A whopping 60% of the ‘DWTS’ audience is over 50 years old, compared with just 37% for ‘Idol.’ In fact, this Tuesday, when ‘Idol’ faced ‘DWTS’ in head-to-head competition, Fox’s singing show scored a 7.2 rating among adults aged 18 to 49. ABC notched a 3.0.”

With a weak-ass top 10 and the impending departure of Simon Cowell, I think last season will be forever viewed as the peak of American Idol, at least in terms of ratings, buzz, and talent.