‘American Idol XIII’ books some familiar sponsors in Coke, Ford for new season

Even though “The X Factor” may have lost Pepsi as a sponsor prior to the ratings disaster known as the third season, there is apparently still some faith that “American Idol’s” longtime partners have in the show turning it around after a season that was so unfortunate, we assume that most people are still trying to forget about it.

In what is definite a show of consistency, both Ford and Coca-Cola have signed on once again to be a partner on the show, which is great news if you actually like some of the cheesy brand integration or the Coca-Cola interviews that Ryan Seacrest does during the live shows. Then again, while everyone hate product placement in shows, we’ve never really felt save for maybe those Ford Music Videos that anything was too gratuitous or over-the-top about what the show did. Most of it made some sense, and we realize that the show needs to have some sort of money-making prowess outside of the ratings if they want to continue paying for the judges.

The surprising news that came out of today’s Variety report is that original sponsor AT&T has opted not to renew their deal. What could this mean? Producers may simply look for another phone provider to join the show and help promote text voting, or just go it alone and hope that the other sponsors more than make up for everything. What we do figure above all else is pretty simple: If the show turns out to be some sort of runaway hit this year in the ratings, sponsors will be lining up at the door at the start of the live rounds. While there are no guarantees of anything right now, we do at least feel like the premiere was miles better than anything that we saw in 2013.