American Idol Makeover: Will The New Cast Supercharge The Ratings?  

Just over the past weekend it was officially announced that Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban will join the new panel of American Idol. Nicki Minaj will receive a $12 million dollar deal for one year while Keith compensation would not be disclosed. The only original remaining judge is Randy Jackson and Mariah Carey joined the show during the summer time.

RyanSeacrest had this to say about the new panel, “the serious and obvious diversity on this panel, you can see just by the panel the kind of power the show has.”

All of the new American Idol judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban all of their contracts are for only one year with a renewal option. This is a really smart move because if this set of new judges can not bring in the ratings then they will be let go.

The Fox president Mike Darnell, “I am thrilled about this year’s judges panel, with an unparalleled star like Mariah, fan-favorite Randy, chart-toppers like Nicki and Keith and our incomparable host Ryan, we’ve put together one of the most exciting judging panels around.”

In recent years, the ratings for the show have dramatically declined this is partly due to the increase in the talent show competition. Now there are shows like X-Factor which Britney Spears and Demi Lovato are judges and NBC’s The Voice with Christina Aguilera. Another reason is that the ratings are failing is because it has not produced any successful talent like Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson.

The last season finale was the least watched finale in the show’s history with a smaller audience than even Season 1’s finale with 11 million viewers. This is a 26% drop from the previous season finale with 30 million viewers. Even though these are strong numbers, they used to trump over all other sitcoms during that hour and now the sitcoms are pulling higher ratings.

With a new elite panel of judges where all of them have contracts over $10 million you have to wonder if they are going to save the pioneering talent show.