TV ratings: NBC scores with ‘Voice’ premiere, ‘Blacklist’ return

With the Olympics now over, “The Voice” and “The Blacklist” returned Monday, propelling NBC to a nightly win.

The “Voice’s” sixth season premiere was down slightly from last year’s season opener in the key demographic, though it had a bigger audience overall.

Among advertiser-desired 18- to 49-year-olds, the show garnered a rating of 4.7, losing about a tenth of a point from last year’s March premiere. However, the two-hour episode drew an average of 15.7 million viewers, marking its biggest audience since 2012 when it aired after the Super Bowl. Compared with a year ago, viewership increased 15%.

PHOTOS: Seth Meyers’ debut on ‘Late Night’

In 18-49, a ratings point equals roughly 1.3 million viewers.

“The Voice” has brought back judges Usher and Shakira for this season, joining the bantering stalwarts Blake Shelton and Adam Levine. Usher and Shakira replace Cee Lo Green, who has said he will not return to the show, and Christina Aguilera.

The James Spader FBI drama “The Blacklist” was back after a four-week break and earned a 3.1 rating in 18-49. That’s up 24% from its last episode, and up 3% from the last time it had “The Voice” as a lead-in, which was in December. About 11.3 million watched overall.

NBC won the night outright among the major broadcasters with an average 18-49 rating of 4.2 and total viewership of 14.2 million.

RELATED: ‘Bachelor’ recap - Juan Pablo isn’t feeling the love in hometowns

Against “The Voice” -- but no Olympics -- ABC’s “The Bachelor” managed to increase its demo ratings by 9% from last week to a 2.4, while “Castle” was flat at a 1.7 and increased its total audience. ABC was second in the ratings for the night with an average of 2.2.

CBS returned to its regular comedy lineup, starting with “How I Met Your Mother,” which earned a 3.6 in the demo and 9.3 million viewers overall, making it the night’s top-rated non-reality show. It fell 5% from its last original episode in the demo and was second only to “The Voice.”

CBS’ other comedies -- “2 Broke Girls,” “Mike & Molly” and “Mom” -- all saw double-digit percentage drops from their last originals. Josh Holloway’s low-rated freshman thriller “Intelligence” was flat with last week’s telecast at a 1.2.

On Fox, “Almost Human” lost a tenth of a point as it faced the “Voice” and other big originals (1.6), though it gained 6% in total viewership (5.7 million). “The Following” was also down a tick to a 1.6.

ALSO:

TV ratings: Sochi Olympics close lower than Vancouver

Netflix-Comcast deal ends Internet consumption dispute

Disney launches cloud-based film service Disney Movies Anywhere

[email protected]

Twitter: @rfaughnder