“American Idol” on ABC sunk 22 percent in TV ratings from its Sunday night premiere to Monday evening, when it first faced off against NBC’s “The Voice.”
But just how bad was the head-to-head beatdown by the NBC singing competition? Badly. Very, very badly.
“The Voice” posted a 2.3 rating among adults 18-49, which is the favorite age range for primetime advertisers. The show also hauled in 11.721 million total viewers. “Idol” had a 1.8 rating in the key demo and 8.359 million overall audience members.
Those Nielsen numbers mean that the NBC singing competition bested the ABC one by 28 percent in the main demo and a whopping 40 percent overall.
In the earlier-available overnight ratings, which count 56 key TV markets, each 15 minutes of the two-hour “Voice” received between a 7.1 and a 7.8 — “Idol” never topped a 5.8 and was as low as a 5.5 for three of the quarter-hours.
In other words, the two shows were never close at any point last night — and remember, this was just a pretty standard episode of “The Voice” versus the highly promoted Monday debut for “Idol” on ABC.
“The Voice” actually beat “American Idol” in every measured demo save one — the two shows managed to tie among men ages 18-34. ABC, which is touting time slot improvements from its pricey new property, is thanking its lucky stars for millennial dudes today.
Below is the NBC show’s advantage among each group measured by Nielsen.
Total Viewers: +40%
Adults 18-49: +28%
Men 18-49: +21%
Women 18-49: +32%
Adults 18-34 (millennials): +8%
Men 18-34: 0%
Women 18-34: +6%
Adults 25-54: +28%
Men 25-54: +26%
Women 25-54: +30%
Adults 50+: +47%
People 12-17: +11%
People 2-11: +11%
Yeah, it was pretty one-sided. Welcome back, “Idol.”