'American Idol' Finale Tops Four Social Media Records

While Fox may not be pleased that Wednesday’s American Idol finale scored its lowest season-ender viewership of the series' run, the network can find comfort in the news that the episode broke four social media records.

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According to Mashable, social media analysts at Bluefin Labs found that the finale that awarded Phillip Phillips the big prize instead of Jessica Sanchez created a big stir among social media users.

The episode became the most talked about season finale ever with more than 1.2 million comments made on social media sites. That number eclipses those of fellow talent competitions’s finales, such as The X Factor’s inaugural season-ender (391,000) and the sophomore season finale of The Voice (370,000).

That also makes it the first TV series finale episode to exceed one million comments and the first TV series to have any episode exceed the one-million-comment mark.

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Additionally, Idol also posted the highest number of social media comments over its entire season at 5.9 million. In comparison, The Voice scored 2.7 million.

Findings such as these further the conversation surrounding the TV industry’s reliance on ratings to define their programming’s impact. Especially with today’s more socially-savvy viewership, ratings may not provide the fullest picture.

Email: Jethro.Nededog@thr.com; Twitter: @TheRealJethro