As I wrote in last week’s TIME column, predicting American Idol results based on search term data is not an easy feat, really more art than science. Last week based on search terms for the week ending 5/19/07, Blake Lewis led Jordin Sparks in overall search term volume, the basis for my prediction that Blake would win. The biggest challenge in making an idol prediction using search term data is that you can’t factor the last performance and vote (on Tuesday evening, our search term data is weekly and updates on Monday for the previous Saturday).
Here’s an update on the chart that I posted last week. For the week ending 5/26/07, Jordin Sparks surged ahead of Blake Lewis, although its hard to determine if this surge was pre or post show finale. Contestants often surge in search after getting voted off. I included Melinda Dolittle in the chart below to demonstrate that phenomenon.