Fox and “American Idol” are rolling out new Google and Facebook tie-ins this week in an effort to inject a digital shot in the arm of the network’s aging flagship singing competition.

Starting tonight, “Idol” viewers will be able to cast up to 50 votes for their favorite finalist via Google search result pages. Viewers searching for “American Idol” or other related terms will see an online ballot appear. Voting will be open from the start of each performance show at 8pm ET until 10am PT the next day.

Over on Facebook, users won’t be able to cast their ballot directly, but they will still be able to use the social media platform to authenticate their identity and vote on existing “Idol” apps and platforms. So what’s new? The show will now pull Facebook data from users who cast a vote and display their image—with their permission, of course—during the show.

According to Variety, Facebook and Google aren’t paying for the integrations; they’re just in it for the TV exposure.

“Idol” fans now have five different ways to cast their votes: calling, texting, via the show’s app, at the show’s website, and via Google search results.

The Google partnership is the first of its kind for the online search giant, but Facebook has worked with “Dancing with the Stars” in the past on a similar viewer integration scheme.

Facebook will also begin providing real-time voting trend data next week that breaks down how East Coast viewers are casting their ballots—including voting tallies and gender, age and geography totals.

Read More: Variety

Brief Take: With the recent cancellation of “The X Factor,” Fox knows it has to shake up the “Idol” format to retain and attract fans to a program that is showing its age. The voting changes come ahead of the arrival of overseas format “Rising Star” on ABC, where real-time voting and fan interaction have translated into ratings success.

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