American Idol or The Voice: Which Won 2023 Ratings Race?

American Idol 2023 Finale Ryan Seacrest Megan Danielle Iam Tongi
(ABC/Eric McCandless) RYAN SEACREST, MEGAN DANIELLE, IAM TONGI

American Idol wins the 2023 rating race vs The Voice and The Masked Singer. The Voice garners the most overall viewers

The 2023 mid-season is over. Let’s take a look at who won the ratings race! A few things to consider: These numbers are final Nielsen overnight ratings. Could the values change in a few weeks once streaming and DVR views are added in? Perhaps. We’d do a comparison if those numbers were readily available. But they are not (unless we coughed up big bucks for a Nielsen subscription).

With proper care and feeding American Idol can air for many years to come

These numbers are based on midseason only. The Voice and The Masked Singer both run two cycles a year. If American Idol ran two cycles as well, We’d average the entire season if Idol also ran a fall cycle. Back in American Idol’s heyday, FOX considered airing two Idol cycles a year, but decided to present the show as a yearly event. Not over exposing the series arguably kept it at No. 1 longer than, for instance, The Masked Singer. Twice a year since 2019 and the gimmick has worn out.

ABC has done a good job rebooting Idol. When it went off the air in 2016 and quickly came back two years later, it’s survival seemed dubious. But what the success of the ABC reboot proves is that American Idol is a potent brand, and with the right care and feeding, it can last on the air for many seasons to come.

Or in other words, American Idol ultimately failed on FOX because once the ratings began to slip, they mismanaged the show and killed it. But that’s an entirely different post that perhaps I’ll write some day.

The Voice needs more live shows and viewer voting

Pictured: (l-r) Niall Horan, Gina Miles — (Photo by: Tyler Golden/NBC)

The Voice relied too heavily this season on the “Blake Shelton Fond Farewell” tour. It’s always the contestants that matter. Judges and coaches are just sideshows. NBC producers do such a great job casting and producing performances. If they make season 24 longer and bring back more live shows and voting, the ratings will likely be higher! Seriously, if the show can’t find celebrities able/willing to commit to live shows, who needs them. If the Writers Guild strike drags on, NBC will at least schedule a longer season with more Tuesday shows than they aired in the spring.

Final 2023 Midseason 18-49 Ratings (Averaged)

American Idol averaged the highest overnight final ratings for 2023. The Masked Singer came in 2nd and The Voice 3rd

  • American Idol Idol – 0.64
  • The Masked Singer – 0.57
  • The Voice – 0.51

Final 2023 Midseason Overall Viewers (Averaged)

The Voice averaged the most overall overnight final viewers. American Idol came in a close second and The Masked Singer landed in 3rd place.

  • The Voice – 5.4 Million
  • American Idol – 5 Million
  • The Masked Singer – 3.9 Million

ratings via showbuzzdaily.com

American Idol Season 21 Ratings

Air Date18-49 DemoViewers
Su Feb 190.615.3M
Su Feb 260.735.2M
Su Mar 50.725.6M
Su Mar 120.603.3M
Su Mar 190.594.8M
Su Mar 260.655.3M
Su Apr 20.655.1M
Mo Apr 30.534.4M
Su Apr 90.514.6M
Mo Apr 100.564.5M
Su Apr 160.645.4M
Mo Apr 170.534.4M
Su Apr 230.685.3M
Mo Apr 240.614.9M
Su Apr 300.745.9M
Mo May 10.585.4M
Su May 70.776.1M
Su May 140.926.3M
Mo May 150.332.7M
Su May 210.836.6M

The Voice Season 23 Ratings

Air Date18-49 DemoViewers
Mo Mar 60.696.4M
Tu Mar 70.505.1M
Mo Mar 130.747M
Tu Mar 140.505M
Mo Mar 200.646.5M
Tu Mar 210.465.3M
Mo Mar 290.606.3M
Tu Mar 300.505.2M
Mo Apr 30.545.4M
Tu Apr 40.434.4M
Mo Apr 100.444M
Mo Apr 170.455.4M
Mo Apr 240.475.2M
Mo May 10.424.9M
Mo May 80.505.5M
Mo May 150.555.6M
Mo May 220.485.6M
Tu May 23 (8p)0.344.4M
Tu May 230.496.2M

The Masked Singer 9 Ratings

Air Date18-49 DemoViewers
We Feb 150.633.7M
We Feb 220.613.8M
We Mar 10.553.7M
We Mar 80.654M
We Mar 150.684M
We Mar 220.543.68M
We Mar 290.653.9M
We Apr 50.603.7M
We Apr 120.513.8M
We Apr 190.483.4M
We Apr 260.533.4M
We May 30.525.9M
We May 100.493.5M
We May 160.553.7M
About mj santilli 34828 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!