When ABC announced in the summer of 2024 that country superstar Carrie Underwood would join the “American Idol” judges’ panel in 2025, replacing Katy Perry after she left the show, many wondered how Underwood’s presence would impact the talent show’s ratings.
Those questions grew louder after the former “Idol” winner sang at President Donald Trump’s inauguration weeks before ABC aired a season 23 preview episode on March 2, 2025 — right after the Oscars. Fans and media critics were abuzz about whether her participation would help, hurt, or not impact “Idol” viewership at all.
Now that season 23 is already halfway to the finish line, multiple ratings reports have provided a mixed bag of results, but as of April 15, viewership looks to be on a significant upswing.
After Dipping Down in March, Early April Ratings Pack an Impressive Punch for ‘Idol’
Thanks to the Academy Awards lead-in on March 2, the half-hour preview of “American Idol” was the show’s biggest launch in three years, according to ABC, drawing 5.93 million total viewers.
But ratings slipped after that, according to the U.S. Sun, which reported on April 3 that “Idol” had lost one million viewers since its March 9 premiere episode and routinely came in behind NBC’s “The Voice,” now in its 27th season.
The outlet reported that the final night of auditions on March 30 drew an impressive audience of 4,661,000, but the next night — the first Hollywood Week episode — dropped to 3,781,000 viewers with “The Voice” as direct competition that Monday night. NBC’s talent show won the ratings war, with 4,567,000 viewers, per the U.S. Sun.
But since then, “Idol” has been climbing back up in the ratings, switching spots with “The Voice,” according to Deadline. The outlet reported on April 15 that as Hollywood Week continued in early April, viewership ballooned by 10% to 5.1 million live and same-day viewers. Within three days, the number of people who also tuned in via various streaming platforms or watching recorded episodes skyrocketed to 6.69 million.
That’s a major win for Underwood in particular, given that the average viewership for those episodes in past years has been 6.13 million, ABC said in a press release.
Is Jelly Roll the Magic Ingredient for ‘Idol’ Ratings Growth?
In addition to the fact fans typically love watching Hollywood Week, another reason for the ratings boost could have been the addition of Jelly Roll, who joined the season during Hollywood Week as the artist-in-residence. He started to mentor contestants on the April 7 episode.
According to Deadline, that “Idol” episode beat out “The Voice” by 690,000 viewers, which was the “largest margin of victory head-to-head with the NBC competition series in over seven years.”
After Jelly Roll appeared on one episode of “Idol” as a guest mentor in season 22, fans begged ABC to bring him back. Now, he’s on board for the remainder of the season, working with and encouraging the remaining singers — and potentially continuing to fuel big ratings.
