 Season 9 saw a slight uptick in ratings early on, with each of the season's first five episodes garnering between six and seven million viewers, but the rise was short-lived and the show's ratings hit a new low of 4.16 million viewers on August 29, 2012.Season 10 maintained similar numbers, averaging about 4 million viewers per episode in 2013, with a 4.3 million viewership for the last episode of the season, an all-time series low for a finale.In April 2014, Nigel Lythgoe appealed on Twitter to fans to share information about the show ahead of the 11th season's May premiere in an attempt to augment the show's ratings for the upcoming season and bolster its chances of renewal thereafter.