• by Wayne Friedman , October 25, 2013

The 13th season of “American Idol” brings a new marketing theme and a fan-chosen winning tagline. The show’s hashtag: “This is Real."

A 30-second promo debuted during the World Series’ Game Two on Fox on Thursday night. The promo, which started under a track of some soaring vocals, features visuals from different young people with generic messages -- displaying no hint of the once-dominant reality vocal competition show.

On white cards, these young people offer messages such as “For Love,” “My Future,” “To Influence,” “To Heal,” “My Passion,” and then “To Win.”

And then one young woman’s message card says “For Him.” The next frame shows her holding a young boy -- presumably her son. Flipping the card, we see it's one of those “American Idol”-logoed identity number cards that singing competitors get each year.

Finally, we are treated to usual visuals and audio of smiling, happy and jumping-for-joy people succeeding in getting through specific rounds of “Idol” -- all holding their cards. Then Fox’s “Idol” puts up the words “Different Reasons” and “Same Dreams" and finally “The Search for a Superstar. American Idol XIII. January.”

“Idol” had been the No. 1 TV show for most of its 12-year run among total viewers and key 18-49 viewers. But starting in season 11, it lost both those viewership crowns to NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.” Last season, it averaged 12.1 million viewers for its final performances. It took in 14.3 million viewers for its season finale in May of this year.

The decline of “Idol” has largely been attributed to the glut of similar singing competition shows -- NBC’s “The Voice” and another Fox show “The X-Factor," which runs in the fall .