Neither the debut of the battle rounds on NBC’s “The Voice” nor the prom theme on FOX’s “Glee” helped propel the adults 18-49 leaders to ratings high marks Tuesday, although the latter at least managed to retain last week’s rebound from the previous season low.
After building on its premiere for episode two last week, “The Voice” finally fell from that early high mark, dropping to a 4.6 adults 18-49 rating with 10.29 million viewers for a one-hour installment at 10PM. Despite the drop, the show remained the night’s dominant leader in the demo.
Analysis of the timeslot’s impact on “The Voice” is complicated. On the one hand, conventional wisdom says that airing at 9PM is preferable to airing at 10PM, and having an extra hour to build momentum certainly doesn’t hurt the show from a viewership standpoint.
On the other hand, for its previous two telecasts, “The Voice” actually performed better at 10PM than 9PM, reaping the reward of lighter competition in the later hour. And, as “The Voice” still grew over this Tuesday’s telecast, posting a higher rating at 10:30 than it did at 10, the “too late” excuse does not hold much water.
The departure from the “blind auditions” might have played a part as well. While “The Voice” seemed to be building momentum due to the positive buzz, auditions tend to perform better than competition rounds on these sorts of shows (see “American Idol”), it is also reasonable that some tuned out now that the show’s main gimmick is over.
Of course, at the end of the day, a 4.6 adults 18-49 rating is dominant in the current television climate, and no one at NBC is going to be complaining.
“Glee,” meanwhile, matched last week’s fast nationals with a 3.6 adults 18-49 rating. Viewership improved to 9.09 million viewers. Though not a remarkable increase for the heavily-hyped prom episode, at least “Glee” did not fall victim to the ratings declines so many other series have suffered this week.
