Plus, the First-Ever ‘’American Idol’ Official Podcast’ Launches on Disney+ and Hulu, Bringing Fans Closer to the Hollywood Live Shows Than Ever Before
Beginning March 30, "American Idol" will stream live on Disney+, alongside its traditional broadcast on ABC, expanding the reach of the franchise and connecting with new audiences.
The ‘’American Idol’ Official Podcast’ also debuts on Disney+ and Hulu, coinciding with the start of the "American Idol" live shows. Each week, the podcast will dive deeper into America’s most iconic music competition series, exploring the performances everyone’s talking about, and offering exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes insights, and expert analysis of the judges’ critiques
"American Idol" airs live Mondays at 8:00 p.m. on ABC, streams next day on Hulu and, beginning March 30, will also stream live on Disney+ in addition to ABC in local time zones.
"American Idol" returned for a new season jumping to 8.27 million Total Viewers and a 1.04 rating among Adults 18-49 after three days of viewing on ABC, Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and digital platforms.
In multiplatform viewing, the show rose +20% among Total Viewers versus the previous season premiere (8.27 million vs. 6.88 million) and +7% in Adults 18-49 (1.04 rating vs. 0.97 rating), with the show’s best premiere performance among Total Viewers in four years — since 2/27/22.
On linear over three days, the "American Idol" season premiere was the No. 1 show of the night on broadcast and cable among both Total Viewers (7.23 million) and Adults 18-49 (0.72 rating), also earning its best premiere performance among Total Viewers in four years — since 2/27/22.
The "American Idol" Season 9 premiere drove more video views than any other premiere episode in the 2025-2026 TV season.
"American Idol" is produced by Fremantle and 19 Entertainment, a part of Sony Pictures Television. Executive producers include Megan Wolflick, also serving as showrunner with Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman serving as executive producers for 19 Entertainment. Fremantle distributes the series worldwide.
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Source: Nielsen National Live+3 Day Big Data Plus Panel Program Ratings for 1/26/26 and ABC Multiplatform+3 Day Ratings. 24/25 based on Big Data Plus Panel, while prior years are panel-only. Comparisons exclude out-of-time-period post-Oscars sneak-peek episode on 3/2/25.
Source: Talkwalker Social Content Ratings; Based on total linear interactions of season premiere episodes across broadcast and cable, 9/15/25-1/26/26.
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