So much for FOX’s extended edition of “Glee” taking a bite out of NBC’s “The Voice.”
What most predicted would be a close battle between the fading FOX flagship and the excessively-promoted new NBC music competition series turned into a landslide for the latter. “The Voice” opened to a 5.1 adults 18-49 rating with 11.77 million viewers, easily topping the season low 3.4 and 8.54 million viewers for the “Glee” episode.
The night’s clear demo winner (“Dancing with the Stars” still won in total viewers, averaging 15.40 million and a healthy 3.6 in the demo), “The Voice” also impressively built its viewership for three out of its four half-hours. Starting with a 4.6, it advanced to a 5.1 for 9:30-10PM and then held at a 5.4 for the entire second hour.
Though no one figured “Glee” would rival its ratings from earlier this season, the hope was that the extended “Born this Way” episode, the show’s second Lady Gaga-themed segment, would recover from last week’s season low. It, instead, dug the basement deeper.
Especially disappointing is the fact that “Glee” lost viewers at 8:30PM, a rare occurrence for the show. Most critics viewed “Born this Way” as one of the stronger episodes this season, but that quality is not reflected by a drop-off during the episode.
During the head-to-head portion at 9-9:30PM, “The Voice”‘s 4.6 with 11.00 million viewers topped the 3.4 and 8.59 million for “Glee.”
FOX’s “Glee” lead-out “Raising Hope” averaged a terrible 1.9 with 4.60 million at 9:30PM.