Last Shall Be First in Idol Economics

Whether you’re applying for a job or hoping to land a major record deal with your soaring rendition of “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” it’s worth taking note of a new study that finds those judged last, are more likely to be judged best.

“All the results show that it’s better to be at the end,” said Lionel Page, a research fellow at the U.K.’s University of Westminster, whose snappily titled “Biases in Sequential Performance Evaluation, a Field Study on the Idol Series,” culls data from the popular family of televised singing contests — best known as “American Idol” in the U.S.

Page, along with his co-author — and wife — Katie Page, a researcher at the University of London’s Royal Holloway College, built the statistical analysis based on 1522 live performances in 165 international episodes of “Idol.” The study — presented this week at a London seminar on the economics of behavior and decision making — also included “X-factor,” a separate talent show devised by Simon Cowell, the snarky impresario closely associated with the Idol franchise. It tracks results from Australia (”Australian Idol”), Brazil (”Idolos Brazil”), Canada (”Canadian Idol”), Germany (”Deutschland Sucht den Superstar”), India (”Indian Idol”), the Netherlands (”Idols” and “The X Factor”), the U.K. (”The X Factor”) as well as “American Idol.”

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