American Idol host Ryan Seacrest with judges Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan on Monday’s show. (ABC Photo)
Last spring, American Idol and The Voice went head to head on Monday night five times.
This year, American Idol added two additional Monday voting shows to its schedule.
If the goal was to prove to viewers that it’s a far superior viewing experience … well, mission accomplished.
On Monday, for the fourth straight Monday, American Idol annihilated The Voice in the Monday night ratings battle.
That’s especially bad news for The Voice, because Monday marked the show’s first voting episode of the season, with spots in the season finale on the line. And ratings dipped rather than rose.
American Idol won the night with a .43 rating among 18 to 49 year olds and 4.45 million viewers.
The Voice finished third on the night — also behind “The Price is Right at Night” — with a 0.21 ratings share and an estimated 3.3 million viewers.
Perhaps worse news for The Voice is there was no bounce back in the ratings on Tuesday night, when finalists were revealed for Season 27.
In the Tuesday 9 p.m. time slot, The Voice finished just third — behind ABC’s “Will Trent” and CBS’s “FBI” — with a 0.21 rating among 18 to 49 year olds and 3.58 million viewers.
Last year, The Voice drew a 0.4 ratings share for its semifinal show and its semifinal results show. Total viewership for those shows plummeted 35 percent on Monday night and 25 percent on Tuesday night this spring.
You’ll note that The Voice announced Season 28 coaches for this fall earlier this week. They did not announce a coaching lineup for next spring. Watch closely over the next few weeks.
Last year, that announcement came June 4. I can’t help but wonder if the absolutely dismal ratings news and the inability to compete with a far superior singing show on Monday nights will make NBC rethink the wisdom of airing The Voice in the spring.
Meanwhile, the Sunday night ratings brought good news for American Idol. In an era of declining ratings, Idol actually improved its ratings year over year, recording a 0.62 ratings share with 5.27 million viewers on Sunday, up from 0.5 and 5.22 million last year.
Great job, Idol.
As for The Voice, it’s getting exactly what it deserves.
The morning after the Season 27 finalists were announced, there wasn’t a single post on the show’s Instagram page congratulating the winners. The first six posts were all about coaches and their performances from the Monday and Tuesday night shows.
Wow, talk about a singing show with all the wrong priorities!
May 12
American Idol: 0.43 among 18-49 year olds; 4.45 million viewers
The Voice: 0.21 among among 18-49 years olds; 3.30 million viewers
May 5
American Idol: 0.39 among 18-49 year olds, 4.28 million viewers
The voice, 0.24 among 18-49 year olds, 3.51 million viewers
April 28
American Idol: 0.45 among 18-49 year olds; 4.61 million viewers
The Voice: 0.26 among 18-49 year olds; 3.69 million viewers
April 21
American Idol: 0.44 among 18-49 year olds; 4.19 million viewers
The Voice: 0.20 among 18-49 years olds; 2.57 million viewers
April 14
American Idol: 0.40 among 18-49 year olds; 3.88 million viewers
The Voice: 0.33 among 18-49 year olds; 4.14 million viewers
April 7
American Idol: 0.45 among 18-49 year olds; 4.15 million
The Voice (new episode): 0.20 among 18-49 year olds, 3.32 million
The Voice (recap show): 0.21 among 18-49 year olds; 2.91 million
March 31
American Idol: 0.39 among 18-49 year olds; 3.78 million
The Voice: 0.30 among 18-49 year olds; 4.57 million
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