The season premiere of “American Idol” was down significantly from last year — both in total viewers and adults 18-49.
Wednesday night’s two-hour premiere averaged 17.8 million viewers from 8 to 10 p.m. — down 4 million viewers from last January’s season premiere.
The two-hour episode was also down 20 percent from last season in the advertiser-coveted demo of adults 18-49.
Still, “Idol” coasted to an easy prime-time victory — and Fox reality chief Mike Darnell says he’s “feeling bullish” about the new season.
“The honest feeling here is we woke up relieved [yesterday] morning,” Darnell told The Post. “There are three of these shows on the air now . . . and they’re all taking each other down.
“Everyone is down in the 18-20 percent range . . . and we’ve got a chance to close that deficit over time,” he said.
“We’ve got a good season ahead of us with good buzz — everyone on that [judges’] panel is dynamic, which is something we didn’t have the last couple of years.
“We were concerned people were exhausted [with the genre], but the fact is that ‘Idol’ is still the biggest reality show on TV, by far, and is the biggest singing show — and that’s pretty good for a show in its 12th season.”
Wednesday night also featured the debuts of new “Idol” judges Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey and Keith Urban.
“You’re talking about a show that is still dominant in a very crowded field,” Darnell said.
“The cast is being buzzed-about and most of the reviews, blogs and social media was positive and word-of-mouth will take over.
“Even if we stayed at this number, this is a killer number.”