In Ratings Race, ‘The Voice’ Gains on ‘Idol’

Time, and maybe the presence of “The Voice,” seem to be catching up with the great TV ratings titan of the last decade, “American Idol.”

It is still too early to crown “The Voice” as the new king of the singing competitions, because in its first outings this season Fox’s “Idol” scored notably better numbers than the first two episodes of NBC’s “The Voice” this week.

But in its first week this season sharing the singing stage with the “The Voice,” “Idol,” a perennial ratings giant now in its 12th season, fell to its lowest-rated performances two nights in a row.

On Thursday, among the audience group that Fox sells to advertisers, viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, “Idol” dropped below a 3 rating for just the second time its history (the previous Thursday was the first time), hitting a low of 2.7 (or about 3.4 million viewers).

That was for one of the “Idol” elimination shows, which are traditionally lower-rated than the performance shows. But that number came one day after Wednesday’s “Idol” recorded the lowest-ever rating for a performance show, a 3.2 rating (about 4 million viewers).

Both numbers were down sharply from the prior week, from a 3.6 for the performance show and a 2.9 for the elimination show. While “Idol” generally trends lower in the middle of its season, one notable change took place on the network schedules between those weeks: “The Voice” returned on NBC.

That singing show was up from its performance in the fall. On Monday, “The Voice” scored a 4.7 rating in that 18-49 group; on Tuesday it managed a 3.9 rating (about 6 million and 5.1 million viewers, respectively). This follows up a fall in which “The Voice” convincingly topped Fox’s other singing show, “The X Factor.”

Does this make “The Voice” the undisputed champ of the would-be singing stars That would not be a fair assessment - yet. But if “Idol” continues to sink, and “The Voice” sustains its numbers, that may be the inescapable conclusion by the end of this season.