Will “The Voice” Out-Sing “American Idol”?
“American Idol” is stuck in 2002. The show’s inaugural summer run is the most recent time it drew only 12 million viewers on a performance night. Season 12’s top-10 reveal March 7 registered a slight uptick to a 3.6 rating in the key adults 18-to-49 demographic and 13.1 million total viewers. But the March 25 launch of NBC’s “The Voice,” which during its second cycle in spring 2012 was only two-tenths of a point behind Idol’s current Wednesday average (5.0 for “Idol,” 4.8 for “Voice”), presents the possibility that America’s highest-rated singing show could lose bragging rights and the millions of dollars that come with them. One thing “Idol” still has in its favor: it produces bigger stars than “The Voice” does. But that could change, too.
