Idol – bigger and better than ever

Photo: Daniel Ohlsson/TV4

"We'll be broadcasting 40 hours of Idol this year — in other words: an entire working week," says Magnus Karlsson Lamm, executive producer of Idol 2009 (Sweden's American Idol).  "That's more than ever before. The series is now in its seventh season, and it seems that it's not only the viewers who enjoy the show — the critics do, too. Of course, the viewers are our top priority."

Each episode attracts an audience of about 1.2 million, a slight increase from last season. TV4 New Media recently registered a record 1.7 million unique visitors in a single week, a result largely due to the growing interest in Idol 2009. Months of preparation led to the launch of the new season.

"We began working on this in January, and the final will be broadcast on December 11th," explains Magnus. "In March, we met a record 11,000 contestants, from Malmö in the south to Umeå up north. We'll eventually narrow this down to 11 finalists."

For the first time ever, TV4 will broadcast two regional finals from outside Stockholm, one from the new Malmö Arena and the other from Scandinavium in Gothenburg.

"We always start by reviewing contestants from across Sweden, so it seems natural to take Idol on the road again," says Magnus. "Both of these arenas have a capacity of about 10,000. Tickets were released last week, and we've already sold about 7,000 in both Malmö and Gothenburg."

What else is new?

"We're developing a number of new mobile solutions," says Magnus. "For example, contestants will be able to use mobile phone cameras to produce their own video blogs and upload them to tv4.se/idol. We'll also broadcast the entire season in mobile format, allowing people to follow the voting even if, say, they're on the bus."

As usual, TV400 will be showing the follow-up discussions with the hosts Peter Jihde and Katrin Zytomierska.

"The follow-up discussions will be much more interactive this year. Viewers can call and speak with their favorite contestant, or with Peter and Katrin. It'll be exciting to see how people respond to this."

Idol is a hugely successful program that is broadcast in more than 30 countries. Why is the concept so popular?

"It's fantastic! Here in Sweden, we have three of the world's top music producers on the jury. If you're part of Idol you have access to the jury, and they can change your life in a matter of seconds. And it works! Agnes, who won in 2005, has just signed a multi-million-dollar contract with a huge American label, and half of the competitors in this year's Swedish Eurovision Song Contest are former Idol contestants. It's the energy and the breadth of the acts that makes Idol such an entertaining show."