This is encouraging news for ABC, which committed to Israel’s singing competition Rising Star before the series had finished its original run. The season finale of the interactive talent show Tuesday night drew a 58% audience share, eclipsing its big debut, which averaged a 44.7% share in September. In the closer, the crowd-pleasing Singing Rabbis (watch below their cool “Sound Of Silence” cover from early in the competition) were edged by 20-year-old singer Evyatar Korkus. In its maiden season, Keshet‘s Rising Star averaged a 47.4% share, the second-highest average share for a talent show in Israel behind no-elimination kids show Master Class (48%). Rising Star was #1 in the weekly charts 9 out of 14 weeks it aired, garnering more than 10 million views through the show’s app, which was downloaded by over 1.5 million people in a country with just over 2 million TV homes. Rising Star, one of the hottest formats at MIPCOM in October, has been sold in most major territories while still airing in Israel, including in the U.S. to ABC, which will air its version in summer, and the UK’s ITV.
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