‘American Idol’ & ‘The Voice’ Go Head to Head in Ratings Battle: Who Came Out On Top?
The ratings battle between two of the most popular singing competition shows on television is heating up as ABC’s American Idol and NBC’s The Voice are now going head-to-head on Monday nights.
American Idol‘s 23rd season premiered on March 2, 2025, with the audition episodes airing on Sunday nights. Now that the auditions are over, the show is moving to two episodes a week, airing Sundays and Mondays. This began with “Hollywood Week: Idol Arena” this past Monday (March 31).
The Voice, meanwhile, premiered its 27th season on February 3, 2025, and airs episodes at 8 PM ET on Mondays. This means the two shows are now facing off at the same time each Monday, and, based on the first week, The Voice came out on top.
According to figures reported by The U.S. Sun, Idol saw 3,781,000 total viewers tune in for Monday’s “Hollywood Week: Idol Arena” episode. This was down from the 4,661,000 viewers that watched the last Auditions episode on Sunday (March 30).
The Voice, however, held firm against the competition, delivering 4,567,000 total viewers on Monday, almost 1 million more than Idol. This number was slightly down on the week prior, which saw 4,929,000 viewers tune in for the March 24 episode.
Season 27 of The Voice features the return of former coach Adam Levine, back for his seventeenth season after last coaching during Season 16. Levine has joined returning coaches John Legend and Michael Bublé and first-time coach Kelsea Ballerini.
Meanwhile, Season 23 of Idol has seen the debut of season four winner Carrie Underwood, who has joined the judging panel to replace Katy Perry. Underwood serves as a judge alongside regulars Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie.
The Voice has been winning the ratings war, with the only episode of Idol to beat its NBC rival so far this season being the premiere on March 2, which aired immediately after the Academy Awards. Since then, The Voice has brought in around 1 million more viewers than Idol.
For example, the March 9 episode of Idol, which featured Part 2 of the Auditions, amassed 4,494,000 total viewers, while the March 10 episode of The Voice brought in 5,470,000 total viewers.
This continued the following week, with Idol‘s March 16 episode amassing 4,510,000 total viewers, while The Voice‘s March 17 episode drew 5,237,000 total viewers.
Will things change as both shows head towards the live shows? Only time will tell.
American Idol, Season 23, Sundays, 8/7c, ABC
The Voice, Mondays, 8/7c, NBC, streaming on Peacock
Conversation14 Comments
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O
Legend was always a favorite. However, a few years ago he said some things that I thought were so racist and ignorant about George Floyd and "selected police", that I just can't stand watching him anymore. So sad as he can be so talented.
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C
American Idol is so significantly better than the Voice that I seriously doubt the accuracy of this article regarding ratings. I realize it’s a subjective thing, but I don’t know anyone who likes the Voice more. Everyone I know watches Idol and tapes Voice.
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B
I tape both. Carrie Underwood made Idol much better, but I think The Voice is a better competition.
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B
The Voice focuses too much on the Coaches and their antics. They need to focus more on the contestants
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P
I record both of them. It seems like commercials after one person sings. I get they need the commercials but it is way tooooooo much.
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O
My favorite is that that you ignore demo which is the only thing advertisers care about. Sunday idol had .5, and Monday they had .39, while the voice had .30. Also Idol is in the top ten every week on Hulu streaming while the voice is no where to be found. Nice try though 😂
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P
I watch the voice every Tuesday on HULU. It's there along with American Idol. The story they reported about the ratings are proven facts.
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R
The voice is never in the the top 15 on Hulu or peacock, so that’s worse lol also, demo is lower on cable.
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O
Poor Ken, zero idea what’s going on. Literally peacock is an NBC affiliate. That means you can only a watch The Voice live on Hulu. That means it would be included in the cable ratings.
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R
Spot on 🎯..we don't care about his world views and ridiculous dividing politics.shut up and judge
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G
Idol all the way…such a great bunch of talented singers! Love the program!!
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C
American Idol is leaning too far with Country and Christian.
The Voice has a nice balance of all genres as singers get to sing their choice instead of being pigeon holed into themes/ genres that they may not be suited for.
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R
Heaven forbid someone as a different viewpoint than you. I thought Repugnicants were all for freedom of speech. Guess not. If they don't bend the knee for Chump.
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G
American Idol usually beats The Voice in the all-important 18-49 demo , not just this season either.
And American Idol ranks pretty well on Hulu.
The Voice doesn’t perform as well on Peacock ,
But the article is correct about The Voice beating Idol in live total viewers .
Both programs are among the strongest on their networks. So fans of both competitions should be pleased.