TV ratings: ‘Voice’ hits performance finale low among viewers 18-49

The final three contestants on “The Voice” delivered their big performances Monday night, helping NBC sweep prime time among the four major networks, according to early numbers from Nielsen. However, the show posted its lowest rating ever for a competition finale among advertiser-coveted young adults.

About 12.7 million people on average watched the last attempts by Tessanne Chin, Will Champlin and Jacquie Lee to impress voters, and the show drew a rating of 3.3 in the key 18-49 demographic. Though that’s down about 6% from last week’s Monday demo number, it was comfortably the highest rated broadcast show of the night.

The NBC show was down about 21% from last fall’s performance finale in the 18-49 group and down 11% from the spring cycle. However, its overall audience was down just 5% year over year and actually up slightly from the spring round.

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Figures for NBC and ABC are tentative because of local coverage of the NFL on network affiliate stations. “The Voice” will announce its winner Tuesday night.

“The Voice” handed things off to the revived Nick Lachey-hosted “Sing-Off,” which, airing at 10:01 p.m., clearly benefits from having such a strong lead-in, drawing a 2.2 rating in 18-49, down just 8% from the average from its two-hour premiere last week, which also enjoyed a lift from that other singing contest. The show won its time slot bothnights.

CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother,” “Two Broke Girls” and “Mom” fell week-to-week, while “Mike & Molly” with Melissa McCarthy drew its biggest audience since its season premiere with 8.76 million viewers and rose 10% in the key demo to a 2.2. “Hostages” rose 9% to a 1.2.

Fox’s “Almost Human” was down 11% from last week with a rating of 1.6, followed by animated specials “Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Special” and “DreamWorksDragons: Gift of the Night Fury.”

ABC aired two animated “Prep & Landing” specials, both of which drew a 1.0 rating and around 4 million viewers, followed by “The Great Christmas Light Fight,” down 14% from last week.

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