Bad news for American Idol as the Fox show received its lowest ratings to date.

Early ratings for the singing competition show reveal that the season 13 premiere on Wednesday pulled in approximately 15 million views. It also attracted a 4.6 rating in the adults 18-49 demo.

This is a decline from the previous season, which opened with 17.9 million viewers as well as a 6.0 rating in adults.

In 2007, American Idol had its biggest premiere numbers to date when season 6 brought in 37 million viewers. Original judges, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson, were still on the panel that season, which crowned Jordin Sparks the winner.

This year's low numbers may have even made the show unappealing to advertisers. For example, AT&T Inc. is no longer a sponsor of the show, as announced during the season 13 premiere.

This year's panel includes new judge Harry Connick Jr. along with returning ones Keith Urban and Jennifer Lopez. Urban is the only judge to return from season 12, while Lopez appeared on the panel during season 10 and 11.

Yet, despite the show's low numbers, Connick's debut on the show received praise from critics.

Entertainment Weekly named him a "favorite American Idol judge so far," while CBS noted his "humorous one-liners" and called him a "good sport" when certain contestants didn't recognize him.

According to Variety, "Harry Connick Jr. has almost single-handedly brought a sense of fun back to American Idol.”

Tags: American Idol