The War of 18-49, The Voice

THE VOICE (NBC)

Scheduling history: Season one of The Voice aired mostly on Tuesday, with a couple Wednesday results shows at the end of the season. Since then, it's mostly moved into the regular season and been a Monday/Tuesday fixture. The Tuesday results show has gone back and forth between 8:00 and 9:00 a bunch of times, and it returned to 8:00 starting in winter/spring 2014 to lead into new scripted series.

See (who saw) how it all began: NBC rushed its new singing competition The Voice on the air right at the end of the 2010-11 regular season, looking to get the jump on Fox's similar upcoming The X Factor. And The Voice drew considerable interest right out of the gate, premiering to 11.78 million viewers and a 5.1 demo rating on 4/26/11. Its second week of auditions actually spiked to a 5.7 demo, but it dropped from there to a fairly consistent mid-4's level for the rest of the season, with its Wednesday results shows dipping into the 3's.

The best of times: After the success of season one, NBC was determined to make The Voice a regular season fixture. And like CBS with Survivor, they had some big help: a post-Super Bowl airing. Season two premiered after the big game with a whooping 16.3 demo, and it turned that audience into a massive 6.7 for its regular slot premiere the next day. The audience bailed rather quickly in subsequent weeks, but the early boost meant it was the show's biggest season on the main night in raw numbers.

The worst of times: Most seasons of The Voice have dropped pretty significantly over the course of the season, and that effect has become more pronounced in the show's later seasons. Season 16 in spring 2019 brought the show's most disturbing drops yet, including some journeys into fractional territory for the results episodes on 4/23/19, 4/30/19 and 5/7/19. Its first ever 0.9 on a main night came a year later, on 5/11/20.

Then vs. now: The Voice has been nothing short of a game-changer for NBC as a network. Its double season in 2012-13 was pretty much the only big reason why the network became somewhat competitive again. And like other reality staples of the past, it's helped the network create a scripted supporting cast as well, boosting shows like The Blacklist, Chicago Fire and eventually a megahit in This Is Us.

It's had a tendency to keep raising questions about its long-term viability because it drops so much in the second half of the season, but it also keeps answering those questions by premiering very well. Overall, the show has mostly stuck pretty close to the rate of league average decline, which is perfectly fine for something of this size (but a worse trend than many of the other reality staples). Unless it can start on an upward trajectory again, the ultimate story seems to be that The Voice's assist to NBC was a miniature version of what Idol did for Fox. But given where NBC was a few years ago, that's not at all insignificant.

Adults 18-49 info by season:

Seas	Year	Slot	Avg	y2y	Lo	Hi	Results	Grade
1	Spring 2011	Tuesday 9:00	4.58		3.3	5.7	detail
2	Spring 2012	Monday 8:00	4.82	+5%	3.5	6.7	detail
		2	Spring 2012	Tuesday 9:00	3.61				3.1	4.4	detail
3	Fall 2012	Monday 8:00	4.38		3.7	4.8	detail
		3	Fall 2012	Tuesday 8:00	4.08				3.0	4.9	detail
4	Spring 2013	Monday 8:00	4.14	-14%	3.2	5.2	detail
		4	Spring 2013	Tuesday 8:00	3.79	+5%			2.8	4.6	detail
5	Fall 2013	Monday 8:00	4.02	-8%	3.3	5.1	detail	B
		5	Fall 2013	Tuesday 8:00	3.65	-10%			2.5	4.7	detail	B
6	Spring 2014	Monday 8:00	3.55	-14%	3.0	4.7	detail	C
		6	Spring 2014	Tuesday 8:00	3.18	-16%			2.5	4.1	detail	C
7	Fall 2014	Monday 8:00	3.35	-17%	2.5	4.1	detail	C
		7	Fall 2014	Tuesday 8:00	3.07	-16%			2.3	4.1	detail	C
8	Spring 2015	Monday 8:00	3.08	-13%	2.3	4.1	detail	C+
		8	Spring 2015	Tuesday 8:00	3.02	-5%			2.0	4.1	detail	C+
9	Fall 2015	Monday 8:00	3.12	-7%	2.6	3.5	detail	B+
		9	Fall 2015	Tuesday 8:00	2.79	-9%			2.1	3.7	detail	B+
10	Spring 2016	Monday 8:00	2.50	-19%	2.0	3.4	detail	C
		10	Spring 2016	Tuesday 8:00	2.34	-22%			1.6	3.1	detail	C
11	Fall 2016		2.50	-20%	2.0	3.3	detail	B
			11	Fall 2016		2.52			-10%	1.8	3.4	detail	B
12	Spring 2017			2.22	-11%	1.8	3.1		detail	B
			12	Spring 2017		2.02	-14%			1.5	2.6	detail	B
13	Fall 2017			2.10	-16%	1.7	2.6	detail	B-
			13	Fall 2017		2.04	-19%			1.7	2.7	detail	B-
14	Spring 2018			1.94	-12%	1.5	2.8	detail	C+
			14	Spring 2018		1.70	-16%			1.2	2.4	detail	C+
15	Fall 2018			1.73	-18%	1.4	2.1	detail	C+
			15	Fall 2018		1.67	-18%			1.4	2.2	detail	C+
16	Spring 2019			1.50	-23%	1.1	2.1	detail	C-
			16	Spring 2019		1.21	-29%			0.9	2.1	detail	C-
17	Fall 2019			1.31	-24%	1.1	1.7	detail	C+
			17	Fall 2019		1.29	-22%			1.0	1.6	detail	C+
18	Spring 2020			1.42	-5%	0.9	1.8	detail	B
			18	Spring 2020		1.03	-15%			0.9	1.4	detail	B
19	Fall 2020			0.97	-26%	0.8	1.2	detail	C
			19	Fall 2020		0.98	-25%			0.7	1.1	detail	C
20	Spring 2021			0.84	-40%	0.6	1.1	detail	C-
			20	Spring 2021		0.78	-24%			0.6	1.0	detail	C-
21	Fall 2021			0.83	-14%	0.7	1.1	detail	B+
			21	Fall 2021		0.83	-15%		0.7	1.1	detail	B+
22	Fall 2022			0.67	-19%	0.6	0.7	detail	B-
			22	Fall 2022		0.65	-21%		0.6	0.7	detail
23	Spring 2023			0.55		0.4	0.7	detail	B-
			23	Spring 2023		0.48			0.4	0.5	detail

Historical-adjusted ratings by season:

Seas	Year	A18-49+	Label	Now23	y2y	Lo	Hi	Premiere	Finale
1	Spring 2011	180	big hit	0.77		130	224	201	146
2	Spring 2012	204	megahit	0.87	+13%	148	284	284	161
		2	Spring 2012	153	big hit	0.65		131	186	135	186
3	Fall 2012	208	megahit	0.89		176	228	199	199
		3	Fall 2012	194	big hit	0.83		142	233	190	233
4	Spring 2013	197	big hit	0.84	-4%	152	247	228	176
		4	Spring 2013	180	big hit	0.77	+18%	133	218	195	209
5	Fall 2013	213	megahit	0.91	+3%	175	271	271	175
		5	Fall 2013	194	big hit	0.83	+0%	133	250	250	212
6	Spring 2014	189	big hit	0.80	-4%	159	250	250	170
		6	Spring 2014	169	big hit	0.72	-6%	133	218	196	175
7	Fall 2014	199	big hit	0.85	-7%	149	244	244	167
		7	Fall 2014	182	big hit	0.78	-6%	137	244	244	196
8	Spring 2015	183	big hit	0.78	-3%	137	244	244	155
		8	Spring 2015	180	big hit	0.77	+7%	119	244	232	172
9	Fall 2015	214	megahit	0.91	+8%	176	241	241	222
		9	Fall 2015	192	big hit	0.82	+5%	144	255	237	199
10	Spring 2016	171	big hit	0.73	-7%	134	235	235	134
		10	Spring 2016	161	big hit	0.69	-11%	111	216	209	148
11	Fall 2016	204	megahit	0.87	-5%	163	273	273	182
		11	Fall 2016	205	megahit	0.88	+7%	150	280	280	202
12	Spring 2017	181	big hit	0.77	+6%	143	257	257	159
		12	Spring 2017	165	big hit	0.70	+2%	122	215	215	156
13	Fall 2017	192	big hit	0.82	-6%	159	240	240	183
		13	Fall 2017	186	big hit	0.79	-9%	156	246	246	186
14	Spring 2018	178	big hit	0.76	-2%	136	254	254	138
		14	Spring 2018	155	big hit	0.66	-6%	114	215	215	138
15	Fall 2018	182	big hit	0.77	-5%	147	217	214	155
		15	Fall 2018	175	big hit	0.75	-6%	144	228	228	183
16	Spring 2019	157	big hit	0.67	-11%	119	221	221	125
		16	Spring 2019	127	hit	0.54	-18%	96	216	216	113
17	Fall 2019	160	big hit	0.68	-12%	132	212	212	148
		17	Fall 2019	158	big hit	0.67	-10%	117	193	190	157
18	Spring 2020	173	big hit	0.74	+10%	116	220	188	124
		18	Spring 2020	125	hit	0.53	-1%	113	166	166	115
19	Fall 2020	150	big hit	0.64	-6%	124	190	190	140
		19	Fall 2020	151	big hit	0.65	-4%	109	175	168	140
20	Spring 2021	131	hit	0.56	-24%	96	172	172	109
		20	Spring 2021	120	solid	0.51	-4%	87	149	144	123
21	Fall 2021	162	big hit	0.69	+8%	137	212	212	143
		21	Fall 2021	162	big hit	0.69	+7%	129	214	214	137
22	Fall 2022	157	big hit	0.67	-3%	141	169	157	162
		22	Fall 2022	153	big hit	0.65	-6%	131	171	171	155
23	Spring 2023	130	hit	0.55		98	174	162	113
		23	Spring 2023	113	solid	0.48		101	117	117	115

The War of 18-49 chronicles the ratings history of veteran primetime series. For more, see the Index.