Culture

'American Idol' is for Old People

by Jarrett Martineau | May 1, 2009 at 10:01 am

225 views | 0 Recommendations | 1 comment

American Idol's contestants may be young and talented, but the show's audience certainly isn't.

According to recent reports, the average age of an American Idol viewer is almost 43-years-old — a far cry from the screaming tweens that fill the seats at the show's tapings each week.

Since debuting in 2002, the show has, like its viewers, gotten older, but it's interesting to note that disparity between Idol's "nostalgic" musical guests — like Natalie Cole, Frankie Avalon, and Smokie Robinson — and the show's contestants, many of whom seem never to have heard of these throwback musical legends.

What do you think? Is American Idol relevant to a young audience? Does it matter?

According to the Los Angeles Times, it's because despite all those shrieks of lustful approval for Adam Lambert and Kris Allen from tweens in the audience, the show's median viewer age for Tuesday night's performance show is 42.9. For a little perspective, that's more than 11 years older than when the show premiered in the summer of 2002.