‘American Idol’ & ‘The Company You Keep’ Premieres Drive ABC’s Most-Watched Sunday Primetime Of 2022-23 TV Season In Delayed Viewing

ABC had its most successful Sunday primetime of the TV season with the season premiere of American Idol and the series premiere of The Company You Keep.

According to live+seven-day viewing data, both premieres, along with the return of America’s Funniest Home Videos — which originally aired on February 19 — averaged the broadcast network 5.7M total viewers.

In terms of the ad-friendly 18-49 demographic, ABC averaged a 0.6, which made it No. 1 among the entertainment networks for the night.

American Idol‘s two-hour premiere was by far the most-watched of the three, hitting 6.9M viewers and a 0.8 demo rating in L+7. When factoring in digital viewing, the episode soared to a multi-platform audience of 8.3M and a 1.4 rating.

That’s compared to the episode’s L+SD audience of 5.2M. In the demo, the episode scored a 0.61 in L+SD.

The singing competition’s Season 6 debut was followed by The Company You Keep, ABC’s latest drama series starring Milo Ventimiglia. In L+7, the episode took home 4M viewing and a 0.89 demo rating (up from a 0.26 in L+SD).

Factoring in multi-platform viewing, the premiere saw 5.5M viewers, which is up 3.1M compared to the L+SD audience of 2.4M.

American Idol airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC, followed by The Company You Keep at 10 p.m. ET/PT.