Update: “The Voice” delivered a monster 6.6 adults 18-49 rating Monday. It showed remarkable growth over the two-hours, posting half-hour ratings of 5.3, 6.2, 7.3 and 7.7.
Retention for “Smash” was not superb, but at a 3.8, the show performed significantly better than anything NBC has recently run in that Monday at 10PM timelsot. It is also very difficult to retain audience from an appointment competition series like “The Voice,” so one should not assess the “Smash” retention rate the way he would that of a sitcom that leads out of another sitcom.
“Smash” will undoubtedly finish the week as NBC’s top-scripted series.
Let’s face it–there was no possibility that Monday’s “The Voice” would retain even a strong majority of the audience that tuned in for the post-Super Bowl premiere.
But if the well-reviewed music competition series managed to attract even a portion of the inflated viewer total to its new timeslot–one that was very difficult for fellow NBC music series “The Sing-Off” this fall–the scheduling decision would make sense. After all, FOX’s “Glee” ended up trending downward following its post-Super Bowl airing last year.
And if a strong Monday airing for “The Voice” helped bring eyeballs to NBC’s acclaimed, pivotal new drama “Smash,” NBC’s strategy would be an absolute slam dunk.
It appears both goals were achieved. According to TV Media Insights, “The Voice” delivered an impressive 10.6 overnight metered market rating. Though down considerably from the near-20 rating for Sunday’s episode, Monday’s timeslot premiere number notably exceeds the 7.5 drawn by the first season premiere.
Observers are wise not to make too many firm conclusions about the fast national data from the overnights–we have seen some notable disparity in recent weeks–but there is no way this will not hold up a home run rating for “The Voice.” As it stands, the show outdrew all of CBS’ comedies in the overnights, which measure total households. Since it skews younger than those shows (or at least did last season), a very strong young adult demo performance is expected.
And, when the dust settles, it is possible “The Voice”‘s adults 18-49 number will best those for the most recent “American Idol”.
“Smash” followed with a healthy 7.7 overnight rating, enough to win its 10PM timeslot. It is not a surefire bet this show will skew as young as “The Voice,” but given its lead-in and the typical composition of the NBC audience, it seems very likely that the final numbers for the debut will be impressive.
And so now that “Smash” received the ideal sampling, the burden falls on the quality of Monday’s pilot. Was it good enough to lock viewers in for future broadcasts?
