Is “American Idol” About to STEAL “The Voice’s” Crown? Discover the surprising twists and turns in this high-stakes TV showdown, the fan reactions.
After a strong start to 2024 and finishing ahead of almost every reality competition show on cable, The Voice has entered a massive ratings slump coming into April. At the beginning of February, NBC’s top show was dominating Monday nights, having drawn over 5 million viewers per episode throughout the first seven weeks. However, nearing the end of March, the show finally dipped below that threshold, and since they’ve begun going head-to-head with their main rival in American Idol, total viewership is looking disastrous.
‘The Voice’ Loses Over 1 Million Viewers
In what is one of the most shocking viewership results of the year for reality TV, The Voice lost over 1 million viewers on the April 7 edition of the show, dropping its top spot to Idol. It first seemed like a no-brainer that The Voice would continue to be the preferred choice to American Idol, but fans made their presence known when The Voice only managed to pull in an audience of 3.3 million viewers. When compared to the previous week, total viewership declined by a whopping 27%, with the key 18-49 demographic also dropping by 33%, drawing just a 0.20 in the category.
Despite The Voice managing to improve its numbers this past Monday, the show barely finished above the 4 million viewer mark, and is the second worst rating the program has drawn throughout season 27. By comparison, American Idol has proved to perform well on Sunday nights, with total viewership only continuing to increase during season 23. However, they will also want to maintain their focus on stealing viewers from The Voice, as Idol has shown they can be competitive against their main rival on Mondays for three straight weeks. Most importantly, whether American Idol draws a higher number than The Voice on a week-to-week basis or not, the latter is currently the program that is losing viewers, while the other continues its hot streak.
Going Head-to-Head with ‘American Idol’ is Damaging for ‘The Voice’
Before the live rounds began, The Voice managed to hold onto the top spot on NBC, drawing more viewers than Idol on separate nights. However, now that the two shows will be clashing going forward, The Voice is proving they are weaker against strong competition, and the scheduling change has significantly impacted their success.
It’s almost unheard of to see a reality TV show lose nearly half its audience in one season, and The Voice was just a couple of thousand viewers away from doing so after drawing numbers close to 6 million earlier this year. However, it’s not just the head-to-head battle with American Idol that is impacting ratings for The Voice, as other programs on Monday nights have become equal threats.
Despite not fitting into the reality TV realm, NCIS and The Neighborhood are not doing The Voice any favors on cable. This past Monday, NCIS drew over 5 million viewers and ranked #1 among Prime Time Telecasts, while The Neighborhood finished impressively above The Voice in the 18-49 demo. Achieving a high rating on Monday nights has always been a challenge for any network on cable, but The Voice needs to consider other options in order to avoid going head-to-head with Idol and posting season-low ratings because of strong competition.
It’s clear that The Voice is sometimes the secondary choice when they’re up against rivals or popular TV shows, meaning it would be beneficial to NBC to develop a strategy where the show airs against less competition. Idol, NCIS and The Neighborhood all broadcast either at the same time or during The Voice, starting at 8:00 p.m. EST. If NBC decided to have The Voice air an hour beforehand instead, it would not only allow them to draw a stronger rating until 8:00 p.m, but also average better total viewership due to it being the only option for viewers to choose.
Competition for The Voice is only going to get stronger as Spring continues, with a variety of TV shows set to begin airing on Mondays, along with the NHL and NBA playoffs being major threats on cable coming into May.
Despite embarrassingly losing over a million viewers last week, The Voice is not down for the count against American Idol, but they may have to live with losing a strong portion of their audience due to the amount of competition. It remains to be seen how The Voice performs down the stretch, and if they will once again post record low ratings or emerge victorious over Idol by the end of the season.
