American Idol Tests Live Social Voting With Season 9 Revamp

ABC’s American Idol will trial live social voting for Season 9, alongside existing text/phone voting, in a push to engage younger audiences. The season brings major changes: auditions move to Nashville, Hollywood Week shifts to Music City, and a three-episode Ohana Round in Hawai‘i will pit industry tastemakers and finalists against each other to pick three platinum-ticket winners, trimming the field to 20. The show premieres January 26 on a Monday with Ryan Seacrest hosting and judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie, and Carrie Underwood.