Unpacking The Wild Success of NBC’s The Voice

Photo credit: NBCTheVoice.com 

While I am not generally a huge fan of contest-focused reality TV, I have to admit that over the last couple of years I have gotten sucked into NBC’s The Voice. When I first learned the concept of the show I thought, “this will never work, it’s like American Idol but more confusing.” I was wrong.

The Voice continues to dominate network ratings, pulling in 10.6 million viewers on Monday night and winning the coveted 18-49 demographic among the big four networks, and all this while American Idol’s ratings and viewership plummet (bringing in 6.6 million viewers for the most recent finale).

The empirical success of The Voice got me wondering: Why does this show work so well? In my opinion, it boils down to a few key elements: heavy social media utilization, coaches instead of judges, and a layered format.

• Heavy social media utilization: Since the early seasons, The Voice has employed social media in every stage of the show. Users can vote with via social media, including real-time “saves” during live shows, the judges interact with their own social media handles during the show, and viewer comments are displayed during performances. It is a way to make viewers active participants instead of just watchers.
• Coaches vs. Judges: The degree to which the celebrity layer is involved in the show goes way beyond just a figurehead. The coaches spend weeks cultivating teams and working with artists to develop their talent hopefully create real stars. Their participation is not limited to telling contestants if they did a good job or not, it is to help them do a good job. We also get to see the judges interact and participate throughout the show. There’s almost as much focus on them as the actual contestants, making them seem much more approachable to viewers.
• Layered format: In general, people have become much more easily distracted and have a harder time staying interested in one thing, as we have a million stimuli in our faces all day long. We are constantly connected to our phones, our Facebook newsfeeds, Instagram, the Internet in general, etc., so in order to hold people’s attention, you have to provide variety and dramatic twists. The Voice features several “rounds”: beginning with “blind” auditions, then moving into knockout rounds where-in contestants compete against each other, before moving into the live shows where America votes. Surprises come in the form of the judges’ “saves,” America’s “saves,” and most recently, a surprise wild-card spot in finale. With the show constantly changing, you get a new experience with each episode while still cultivating favorite artists and favorite judges. It’s a win-win.