No doubt about it. Ellen DeGeneres is hot! Her daytime television talk show is up 15 percent this year and second in daytime ratings only behind daytime’s reigning champion, Oprah Winfrey. TV Guide Magazine reports Ellen’s Q Score, a measure of celebrity ‘likeability’ is even higher than Oprah’s. And as of her February 9th debut, Ellen is now a judge on America’s top rated prime time program; American Idol.

In a national poll conducted by Decision Analyst on behalf of Empower MediaMarketing found most Idol fans were excited to see Ellen DeGeneres replacing Paula Abdul as American Idol’s newest judge. The poll of almost 20,000 US residents ages 14 and older was conducted February 10th through February 24th.

One half of Americans couldn’t wait for Ellen to start work on Idol. About a third of respondents said that, while they will miss Paula, they are excited to watch Ellen as an Idol judge. Of course, not everyone is happy to see Ellen in primetime. About one-in-ten respondents said they had ‘enough Ellen already’ and were ready to bring back Paula. Still another 19 percent seem to not be aware of what all the fuss is about, saying (tongue-in-cheek perhaps) that they’ve not heard of American Idol.

The Ellen Brand is in Demand
Ellen’s popularity, while particularly strong among teens and young adults cuts across all age groups. Among adults over 65 years of age, most say they will at least give Ellen an opportunity to prove her judging prowess. Less than two-in-ten senior adults say ‘enough Ellen already, bring back Paula.’

Ellen’s popularity cuts across age groups. Younger audiences remember her from voicing Dory in the 2003 Disney animated film, Finding Nemo. Older viewers may remember her groundbreaking 1990’s situation comedy, Ellen. The ABC show had its highest ratings in 1997 as Ellen’s character came out as a lesbian on the show coinciding with Ellen’s own announcement that she was a lesbian on the Oprah Winfrey show.

Ellen’s Idol debut drew almost 28 million viewers, roughly the same number of viewers who watched its premiere episode a few weeks earlier. Ellen has admitted to not being a music expert, but her likeability among all age groups suggests that naming her Paula’s replacement was a great decision that will pay rating dividends for seasons to come.

By Kirby Thornton, Empower MediaMarketing Director of Consumer Insights