Ratings: ‘Duck Dynasty’ season 3 nearly beats record, clobbers ‘American Idol’ again

Whenever there is a cable series so successful that it manages to destroy broadcast competition on a near-weekly basis, it has us instantly intrigued; and with that in mind, we really cannot look away from “Duck Dynasty” at the moment. The hit A&E series has managed this year to routinely beat “American Idol” in the adults 18-49 demographic, and this is in spite of it airing on a network in fewer homes with less publicity, and also with a budget that is a fraction of the size.

Overall, Wednesday night’s new episode proved yet again that the Robertson clan has not become a thing of the past just yet, as it nearly tied its series high of a 4.0 rating with its 3.9. It also drew an impressive 8.6 million viewers. “American Idol,” meanwhile, had a 3.4, even if it did win in total viewers as it has all season.

Just to give you some more crazy context as to the maddening success of this show, let’s just run a few more numbers by you:

1. Six episodes of “Duck Dynasty” airing on the night had a higher demo rating than any other original series airing on cable.

2. The 2.2 rating for the repeat airing at 10:30 was higher than anything airing on ABC, NBC, or The CW on the night. Only “Survivor Caramoan” and “American Idol” topped it.

3. With “The Walking Dead” over for the season, “Duck Dynasty” is now the #1 show on cable, and is also the #2 reality show on all television behind only NBC’s “The Voice” (which is putting up monster numbers).

How stunned are you by the continued success of “Duck Dynasty,” especially with all of these repeats potentially leading to viewer burnout? If you want to also read our most-recent episode review for the show, you can do so over at the link here.

Photo: A&E