The winner of the first ever Puerto Rico Idol music competition might not be announced until the
night of Nov. 21, but a clear victor has already emerged: WAPA-TV.
The InterMedia Partners-owned TV station in Puerto Rico has
scored unprecedented ratings in key demographics, consistently beating its close
competitors -- media giants Univision and Telemundo -- on the island.
The Nov. 7 concert scored an unprecedented 63%
share among women 18-49 during the last half-hour of the show, per Nielsen. At that point, the contest was down to two finalists: 22-year-old
Christian Pagán (from Humacao) and 18-year-old Japhet Albert (from Ponce.)
Idol Puerto Rico is
produced locally by WAPA-TV and FremantleMedia, and like mainland counterpart American Idol is sponsored by Coca-Cola,
Ford, AT&T and Burger King, as well as Scotiabank and Goya.
"The ratings we've seen with the [Idol franchise] in Puerto Rico are really amazing," Jack
Alfandary, the Colombian-born senior VP of sales and new business development
at FremantleMedia, said. "We expected the show to do well, but we didn't
expect it would do so well."
The live finale will take place Monday, Nov. 21, when the winner will be announced. Leading up to the big day, WAPA-TV is
encouraging fans to vote for their favorite via text message on their
mobile devices or by connecting to Idol
Puerto Rico on the WAPA-TV website or a dedicated Facebook fan page.
