With so many TV contests, no one wins
‘Idol,’ ‘DWTS,’ ‘Voice’ and others have all seen their ratings drop
Reality gridlock is stalling network TV. In a spring traffic jam, a big chunk of the Big 4 schedules consists of unscripted programming, battling for a shrinking share of viewers. Nowhere is that more apparent than struggling NBC, where 11 weekly hours — half of the current schedule — consists of news or reality fare, compared with nine hours of original scripted programming (and two hours of perpetual repeats).
Last week, NBC’S top series, The Voice, began facing ABC’S Dancing With the Stars on Mondays, and both suffered: Dancing’s spring premiere drew 18.8 million viewers, down 4 million from last spring, and The Voice dropped 17% to a season-low 12 million. Among young-adult viewers whom advertisers crave, Dancing dipped a steeper 34%.
On Tuesday, Dancing’s first results show also dropped from last year’s while draining viewers from NBC’S The Biggest Loser, which weighed in with a record-low 5.6 million.
It’s all part of a season-long slump for longrunning reality shows. NBC’S Loser and Celebrity Apprentice, ABC’S The Bachelor and Wipeout and Fox’s kingpin American Idol are down about 20% or more from this time last year.
“The same type of fatigue factor that can occur with (scripted) entertainment series can also happen with reality shows,” says analyst Brad Adgate of ad firm Horizon Media. “American Idol has been hurt,” he says, predicting the show will finish this season with fewer than 20 million viewers for the first time since its first season in 2002. “But (last fall’s) X Factor could be as much at fault as The Voice.”
Others say the declines are cyclical in a once red-hot genre that also faces greater competition from cable, where MTV’S Jersey Shore and Pawn Stars are top-rated shows. Considering the stacked odds, “shows are coexisting at healthy levels,” says ABC reality chief John Saade. “They’re still really good numbers with extremely passionate fans.”
Ironically, Dancing has succeeded in helping Idol in one respect: The Voice no longer seems capable of beating Fox’s singing contest among younger viewers.
That passion will be tested anew come summer: NBC’S America’s Got Talent adds Howard Stern to the judges’ mix in a mid-may return, and ABC ( Duets) and CW ( The Star Next Door) plan new singing competitions.