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

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

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

The Voice Season 23 Ratings

The Masked Singer 9 Ratings