Monday Night Broadcast Ratings: The Voice and Dancing With the Stars Remain Tight (May 1)

Monday night television on May 1 saw a modest overall decline in broadcast ratings across the major networks. The two prime-time competition programs, The Voice and Dancing With the Stars, drew very similar household ratings, making for one of the tightest head-to-head margins in recent weeks. Both shows experienced small dips compared to the prior week, and NBC’s The Voice received a slight boost in Nielsen’s final update.

The live telecast of The Voice averaged a 1.7 household rating in the initial ratings report, down two-tenths from the previous week. ABC’s Dancing With the Stars followed closely with a 1.6 household rating, down one-tenth versus the prior Monday. That 0.1 difference between the two programs is unusually narrow for these two long-running franchise competitors, signaling an intensely competitive night for audience share in the 8–10 p.m. hour.

In Nielsen’s subsequent final update, The Voice was revised upward by one-tenth of a point, landing at a 1.8 rating with a 7 share and an estimated 9.08 million viewers. That adjustment highlights how overnight measurements can shift slightly once all viewing data is compiled. Even with the small fluctuations, the evening’s pattern shows that top reality fare continues to command a significant portion of Monday’s broadcast audience.

Context and Takeaways

Monday’s slight ratings declines are consistent with routine week-to-week variation. Audience behavior can be influenced by many short-term factors—special events, sports overruns, streaming options, or local programming shifts—so small dips of one or two tenths are not uncommon. What stands out from this night is the closeness of The Voice and Dancing With the Stars in the household ratings metric, demonstrating robust viewer interest on both networks despite the downward tick.

For industry watchers, the final Nielsen update for The Voice is a reminder that initial overnight ratings are provisional. Networks and advertisers pay attention to the final numbers, which incorporate additional measurement and can change the story for a given night by a tenth or more. When margins are slim, those updates can be decisive in assessing which program led the evening.

Detailed Monday Night Broadcast Ratings (8–10 p.m., initial figures)

Here are the prime-time ratings and estimated viewers reported for Monday night’s programming across the major broadcast networks. These figures reflect the initial household ratings and the estimated number of viewers for each program.

The Voice (NBC) (8–10 p.m.): 1.7/6 — 8.84 million viewers (updated to 1.8/7 — 9.08M in Nielsen final)
Dancing With the Stars (ABC) (8–10 p.m.): 1.6/6 — 10.12 million viewers
Kevin Can Wait (CBS): 1.2/5 — 6.22 million viewers
Gotham (FOX): 1.0/4 — 2.92 million viewers
Supergirl (The CW): 0.5/2 — 1.73 million viewers

Later Time Slots and Additional Programs

8:30 p.m. — Man with a Plan (CBS): 0.9/4 — 5.30 million viewers
9 p.m. — Lucifer (FOX): 1.0/4 — 3.43 million viewers
9 p.m. — Superior Donuts (CBS): 0.9/4 — 5.17 million viewers
9 p.m. — Jane the Virgin (The CW): 0.2/1 — 0.81 million viewers
9:30 p.m. — The Great Indoors (CBS): 0.8/3 — 4.14 million viewers
10 p.m. — Scorpion (CBS): 1.0/4 — 6.85 million viewers
10 p.m. — Taken (NBC) – F: 0.8/3 — 4.54 million viewers
10 p.m. — Quantico (ABC): 0.6/2 — 2.87 million viewers

What This Means Going Forward

Monday’s ratings snapshot reinforces that competition nights for reality and franchise programming remain central to broadcast strategies. Both The Voice and Dancing With the Stars continue to draw multi-million audiences, and small shifts in ratings can reflect changing viewer habits or the influence of competing content. Networks will watch subsequent weeks closely to see if the narrow margin between these two tentpoles persists, widens, or reverses.

While week-to-week changes are normal, consistent trends over multiple weeks are more revealing about a series’ health. For now, the takeaways are clear: The Voice and Dancing With the Stars remain audience magnets on Monday nights, Nielsen’s final updates can affect the narrative, and the broader broadcast landscape shows modest, routine variability in viewership.