Sunnyvale, CA (Top40 Charts/ Hill & Knowlton) As in years past, Yahoo! Search can often indicate a favorite in American Idol contestants. Searches on Yahoo! for "who will win American Idol" have spiked 178% this week as fans look for a projection.
Yahoo! looks at geographic searches, demographic searches and overall searches to project a leader in the American Idol race. Searches for "American Idol finalists" have spiked 949% this week. If searches are any indication of a winner this year, Scott McCreery has quite the race ahead of him against Lauren Alaina -- Lauren Alaina gets nearly 9 times the searches of Scott McCreery on Yahoo!, based on data from the past 7 days.
However, Lyndsey Parker, Yahoo! Music's managing editor (https://music.yahoo.com/) and author of Yahoo! Music's "Reality Rocks" blog (https://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/realityrocks), feels that while Lauren Alaina's style is more current and relevant to right now, Scott McCreery will take the Idol title. "I believe Scott's fan-base is stronger," Parker said.
Parker, an American Idol expert having written about the show since its inception, explains why:
"He has never been in the bottom three, Lauren has once. He is the only male contestant left, which means he will probably have a lock on the important tween-girl vote who have elected three male winners in a row. And he has been unstoppable all season. I think Scott can better handle this competition. Although he is not even a full year older than Lauren, he carries himself with more maturity. Lauren has a fragile disposition and tends to crumble under pressure. She may go on to sell more records, but Scott will take the title. "
As for what viewers can expect from the highly anticipated season finale, Lyndsey Parker notes, "The finale itself will not be as musically diverse. There will not be the element of excitement and surprise that contestants like James Durbin, Paul McDonald, Jacob Lusk, Casey Abrams and to some extent Haley Reinhart would have brought to the show."
American Idol fans have been avidly searching for information on Yahoo! since the final two contestants were disclosed. Additional search trends include:
American Idol 2011 finalists
- Searches on Yahoo! this week for Scott McCreery have spiked 166%
- Searches on Yahoo! this week for Lauren Alaina have spiked 295%
- States searching most for Lauren Alaina:
1. Tennessee (Alaina's home state)
2. Georgia
3. Illinois
4. North Carolina
5.
Texas 6. Ohio
7. California
8. Michigan
9. Florida
10. New York
- Demographic breakdown of people searching for Lauren Alaina:
- 53% of searches are from females
- 14% of searches come from those under 24
- States searching most for Scott McCreery:
1.
Indiana 2. North Carolina - note: many favorite American Idol contestants have come from NC including Kellie Pickler,
Fantasia Barrino and Clay Aiken
3. Arizona
4. California
5.
Texas 6. Illinois
7. Ohio
8. New York
9. Pennsylvania
10. Florida
- Demographic breakdown of people searching for Scott McCreery:
- 54% of searches are from females
- 18% of searches come from those under 24
American Idol 2011 season vs. previous seasons:
- Searches for American Idol are up 26% in the weeks leading up the 2011 finale (based on data from April 1-May 22 (2011) compared to April 1-May 24 (2010)).
- However, searches are down 13% for the 2011 American Idol finale compared to the weeks leading into the 2009 finale (based on data from April 1-May 22 (2011) compared to April 1-May 18 (2009).
The top searched American Idol judges on Yahoo!, in the past 7 days, are:
1.
Jennifer Lopez - Lopez gets more than 9 times more searches on Yahoo! than Steve Tyler
2.
Steven Tyler 3. Randy Jackson
Overall American Idol stats on Yahoo! (in the past 30 days):
- 65% of searches come from females
- California, North Carolina, Georgia, Illinois, Ohio and Texas search the most
Interview Opportunity: Lyndsey Parker is based in Los Angeles and is available for interviews to provide expert commentary and insight on the season finale of American Idol and Yahoo! search data results via phone, Skype or in-studio in the LA area.
To read Lyndsey Parker's "Reality Rocks" blogs about the American Idol season finale, performances and results show, visit: https://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/realityrocks
-Inspiration-Celebration(r)-Gospe.jpg)