Screen Times – Not All Idols Are Shown Equally

February 18th, 2010 - kp No Comments
While the American Idol winner is ultimately decided by viewers, the show’s producers have a lot of influence over whom the viewers will vote for.  One of these influential factors is how much screen time an Idol receives prior to the Semifinals and Finals voting rounds.

I have been estimating the amount of screen time each contestant has received, with the results posted here.

Through last week’s Hollywood episodes, there have been some contestants that have been shown much more than others.  Let’s take 2 of our recently-named Top 24: Michael Lynche and Lee DeWyze.  One has been on screen for nearly 7 1/2 minutes (Big Mike), and the other has been shown for 30 seconds.

While I do believe voters will ulitmately choose the more talented Idols over the more familiar ones, familiarity is still important, especially when the talent gap between contestants is narrow.

Note that Kris Allen, Season 8’s Idol winner, was shown in the Audition and Hollywood episodes for a mere 1 minute and 50 seconds, showing that his lack of air time didn’t hinder his talent and future success.  However, take last year’s semi-finalist Ricky Braddy, who arguably had just as much talent and as much air time, but couldn’t even make the finals.

Do you think air times matter?  I’d love to know your thoughts.

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