'American Idol' premiere ratings are out; will Harry Connick Jr.'s 'cradling' go viral?

American Idol fans are hyped up with the new judge Harry Connick Jr. and the return of Jennifer Lopez after she skipped a year. Keith Urban had experience on Australia's The Voice (which he quit) and last year's American Idol. Our Music Times' recap focused on the singers to watch out for, since the music is what it's all supposed to be about after all. And then there are those more interested in the cold, hard numbers.

Deadline reported the viewership data for adults aged 18-49. Ratings (4.6) for the premiere were down 23 percent from last season. For comparison's sake, The Voice's premiere had a rating of 4.9, but still around the same amount of viewers, 15 million. This is still a 16 percent drop from season 12's American Idol premiere viewers. For perspective, 2007 saw more than double the viewers: 37.4 million. The silver lining? The premiere had more favorable numbers than last year's finale. And there is still part two of the premiere to see tonight on Fox.

In the age of wacky trends popping up and going viral online, it seems like the Idol social media plan is to make "cradling" happen. For real, Connick Jr. tweeted "did you like the cradle??? we need more cradling!!! post your cradle pix!!!let's get it trending! #cradle #idoltonight." This is what cradling looks like:

Here is how Idol's twitter account is trying to drive "cradling" home:

• Who's ready for ‪#cradling? ‪#IdolPremiere ‪#justwait
• Retweet if you want ‪@HarryConnickJR to ‪#cradle you while you sing! ‪#cradling ‪#IdolPremiere
• "I just want you close" ‪#cradle ‪#cradling ‪#IdolPremiere ‪
• The newest internet phenomenon: ‪#CRADLING Special thanks to ‪@HarryConnickJr for this one! - ‪https://fox.tv/19vUygf

And here is one last look at cradling, in case the above pictures didn't give a clear enough idea:

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American Idol