RATINGS RAT RACE UPDATE: ‘Voice’ Premiere Gains In Final Ratings

UPDATE, 1:53 PM: The Season 4 premiere of The Voice last night was a little louder than first reported. NBC’s singing competition series saw its ratings results rise in final numbers, up to a 4.8/13 from this morning’s 4.7/12. The premiere is now up 14% over the Season 3 premiere in September; earlier today it was up 12%. The Voice also grew in viewership season-over-season, rising from 13.36 million to 13.6 million. Back from a multi-month hiatus, Revolution slipped a tenth in final numbers from the 2.7/7 it had in fast nationals to 2.6/7. Airing in the same 8 PM to 10 PM slot as Voice, ABC’s Dancing With The Stars was up slightly in the final numbers to 2.4/6 from 2.3/6 earlier today.

PREVIOUSLY, 8:20 AM: The night the struggling NBC has been waiting for all year came Monday with the Season 4 premiere of The Voice (4.7/12) and the return of Revolution (2.7/7). With new judges Shakira and Usher joining veterans Adam Levine and Blake Shelton, Monday’s two-hour Blind Auditions debut was up 12% in fast nationals from last fall’s Season 3 premiere on September 10. With 13.36 million viewers, The Voice was the second most watched show of the night after the 14.08 million who saw Dancing With The Stars. Monday’s Season 4 debut was obviously down sharply from The Voice’s Super Bowl fueled February 5, 2012 Season 2 premiere when the show debuted right after the big game that Sunday with a 16.3 rating. Last night’s Voice was down 30% from the series’ regular time slot debut on February 6, 2012, where it got a 6.7 rating. The Voice returns for more blind auditions tonight in a one-hour episode starting at 8 PM. Off the air since late November, the power literally and figuratively came on at Revolution last night after The Voice. Airing at 10 PM, the J.J. Abrams-produced post-apocalyptic series was down just 7% from its November 26, 2012 show, the last before it went off the air, and down 34% from its September 17 series premiere. Revolution was the top drama of the night. NBC won the night among Adults 18-49 but ABC took the top spot in overall viewers with 12.947 million watching. 

Related: ‘Voice’ Returns With ‘Revolution’ Tonight; Can Spring End Winter Of NBC Discontent?

In other TV Monday night, the face-off with The Voice season premiere saw the second week of the 16^th season of Dancing With The Stars (2.3/6) fall 28% from its March 18 show. Following DWTS, Castle (2.1/6) dipped 5% from last week’s show. CBS flexed a full night of primetime muscle Monday starting with How I Met Your Mother (2.7/8) and Rules of Engagement (2.1/6). The two shows dipped 10% and 9% from last week to hit season lows. 2 Broke Girls (2.9/7) was up 4% from its March 17 show while Mike & Molly (2.6/6) rose 8%. CBS’s night ended with Hawaii Five-O (2.0/5). Head-to-head with the return of Revolution, the island-based series slipped 5% from its March 17 show. Fox had new episodes of Bones (1.9/5) and The Following (2.3/6). The former was down 10% while the latter dipped 8% from last week. Like last week, the CW had an original The Carrie Diaries (0.4/1), which was flat with last week. That was followed by an encore of Hart of Dixie (0.1/0)