Based on the preliminary household metered market numbers it looks like American Idol’s streak of not losing a single half hour to the competition — any of its competition — for the past six years is over.
In the early metered market numbers NBC saw growth Wednesday night and won every half hour:
Vancouver Olympic Winter Games (NBC)
8:00 p.m.: 16.4/26 (#1)
8:30 p.m.: 19.0/29 (#1)
9:00 p.m.: 19.1/28 (#1)
9:30 p.m.: 20.4/29 (#1)
10:00 p.m.: 20.6/31 (#1)
10:30 p.m.: 20.0/33 (#1)
In the 9pm-10pm hour American Idol was a very distant second with a 12.3/18 household rating/share.
Though these numbers are preliminary and I suppose it’s possible American Idol could still win out with adults 18-49, given the share differences there’s no chance that Idol will have more viewers, and I’d guess NBC wins the hour with adults 18-49, too. We’ll know for sure a little bit later in the morning.