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\n\tAmerican Idol\u2019s<\/em> move to a new night seems to have paid off.<\/p>\n \n\tThe ABC talent contest scored its biggest season debut in four years with 5.9M total viewers and a 0.54 share among adults 18-49, per Nielsen\u2019s live+same day ratings. This was up from 4.49M (0.45) last year.<\/p>\n \n\tIt was the show\u2019s biggest premiere performance since Season 20 in 2022.<\/p>\n \n\tAmerican Idol<\/em> is hosted by Ryan Seacrest with Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie and Carrie Underwood as judges. It previously aired on Sunday nights but moved to Mondays this season.<\/p>\n \n\tABC got a bit salty when revealing the numbers, comparing its premiere performance to The Voice, <\/em>saying that it marked the first time that Idol \u201coutdelivered\u201d the NBC show\u2019s premiere in its nine season run on ABC.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Disney-owned network said the premiere \u201csurged past\u201d The Voice<\/em> but it was comparing it to the show\u2019s fall average.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe beginning of the year is awards season and a lot of these award shows are on Sunday nights. You\u2019re up against the Grammys and the Super Bowl. Let\u2019s see what happens on Monday,\u201d showrunner Megan Michaels Wolflick told Deadline earlier this month.<\/p>\n \n\tClearly, ABC is enjoying a ratings boost for its linear entertainment staples such as Idol<\/em> and Dancing with the Stars<\/em>. Idol<\/em> received more than double the votes in its finale last season.<\/p>\n \n\tTalking of votes, Idol<\/em> is also experimenting with live social media voting for the first time this season, marking the first entertainment show to do so.<\/p>\n \n\tLast night\u2019s premiere featured the likes of Jesse Findling, who has a stutter and sang Benson Boone\u2019s \u201cIn The Stars\u201d and Khloe Grace, who sang \u201cForever 13\u201d, a song written about Aubreigh Wyatt, a 13-year-old girl who died by suicide in 2023, a moment that made Underwood cry.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n