American Idol used to compete on Monday nights with The Voice and often would lose the head-to-head battle.
However, with The Voice moving to once a year in the autumn, American Idol no longer has it as a competition.
NBC didn’t bow out, though. While The Voice is in autumn, they debuted American Song Contest this spring. Based on the extremely popular European Song Contest, which has been on for decades, the new American version is struggling in the ratings.
American Song Contest has been a ratings failure for NBC.
Now, American Idol seems to be trolling their new rival.
American Idol presents Judges Song Contest
American idol is pushing their show this year by having more Monday night episodes than normal. There will even be the Great Idol Reunion coming on a Monday night.
However, the Monday night episode that has some people seeing shade thrown is called Judges Song Contest.
Ryan Seacrest has called American Idol the “most-watched singing show,” and they are proving it in the ratings every week.
American Idol is averaging a 0.62 demo rating, which tied it for first place with 911 on Fox. This equaled about 5.57 million viewers.
American Song Contest scored a 0.27 in the demo rating, with only 1.5 million viewers.
American Idol creating the new Monday night challenge called Judges Song Contest seems like a jab at the struggling American Song Contest.
American Idol is also pushing itself hard on Monday nights and will have coast-to-coast airings of the show, even interrupting the local news in some areas of the United States.
What is the Judges Song Contest on American Idol?
As for the Judges Song Contest, this will take place on April 25.
On April 24, Gabby Barrett returns to American Idol as the mentor for the Top 14.
According to the network, she will return to “offer guidance on what it takes to become America’s next superstar.”
This episode will air live at the same time in all time zones, at 8 p.m. ET and 5 p.m. PT. The fans will vote live for their favorites, and the Top 11 will be announced at the end of the show.
The next night is the Judges Song Contest, where “For the first time ever, American Idol superstar judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, and Lionel Richie will pick songs for each of the Top 11 to perform.”
“Without knowing which judge offered the suggestion, each contestant will select their favorite song to perform, revealing the winning judge.”
This means each singer will receive three songs to sing, picked out for them by each American Idol judge, and they will choose the one they want to perform.
Like Sunday night, this will simultaneously coast to coast.
American Idol airs on Sunday and Monday nights at 8/7c on ABC.