The Voice (U.S. TV series)

For current season, see The Voice (U.S. season 4).

The Voice
Genre	Reality television
Format	Interactive singing competition
Created by	John de Mol Roel van Velzen
Presented by	Carson Daly Alison Haislip (season 1) Christina Milian
Judges	Adam Levine Blake Shelton Christina Aguilera Cee Lo Green Shakira Usher
Composer(s)	Martijn Schimmer
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	86 (as of May 21, 2013)
Production
Executive producer(s)	John de Mol Mark Burnett
Running time	44–104 minutes
Production company(s)	Mark Burnett Productions (seasons 1–2) Warner Horizon Television One Three Media (season 3)
Distributor	Endemol Talpa
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Picture format	480i (NTSC) 1080i (HDTV)
Audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1
Original run	April 26, 2011 (2011-04-26) – present
Chronology
Related shows	The Voice (franchise)
External links
Official website

The Voice is an American reality television singing competition broadcast on NBC. Based on the original The Voice of Holland, the concept of the series is to find new singing talent (solo or duets) contested by aspiring singers, aged 15 or over, drawn from public auditions. The winner is determined by viewers by voting through telephone, Internet, SMS text, and iTunes Store purchases of contestants' performances; they receive US$1,000,000 and a record deal with Universal Music Group. There have been three winners of the show to date: Javier Colon, Jermaine Paul, and Cassadee Pope.

The Voice began airing on April 26, 2011 as a spring TV season program. The show proved to be a hit for NBC and was subsequently expanded into the fall cycle when the third season premiered on September 10, 2012. The series employs a panel of four judges who critique the contestants' performances. Each judge also serves as a coach, guiding their teams of selected contestants through the remainder of the season. They also compete to ensure that their act wins the competition, thus making them the winning judge. The original judging panel consisted of Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine, and Blake Shelton. The lineup for the fourth season included Levine, Shelton, Shakira, and Usher. The former panel will serve for the fifth season, while the latter lineup will be featured for the sixth season. The series is hosted by Carson Daly, with Christina Milian serving as a social media correspondent.

History

An adaption of The Voice of Holland, NBC announced The Voice of America in December 2010; its name was soon shortened to The Voice. In each season, the winner receives $100,000 and a record deal with Universal Republic Records (seasons 1–2), Universal Music Group (season 3–).

The Voice premiered April 26, 2011; it delivered the highest 18–49 rating for a series premiere on a major broadcast network since Undercover Boss debuted after the Super Bowl in February 2010. It became the first new primetime series of the season (from ABC, CBS, NBC, or Fox) to increase in adults 18–49 and total viewers from its first week to its second. Owing to the strong performance of The Voice, NBC offered expanded two-hour live episodes of the show beginning June 7, following America's Got Talent, and added an additional results show. The season finale aired on June 29, 2011. The second season premiered on February 5, 2012 as the lead-out program after Super Bowl XLVI. Its regular time slot held a 6.7 rating, 17 share in adults 18–49, 17.8 million viewers overall and winning every half-hour in adults 18–49, adults 18–34, adults 25–54 and total viewers versus first-run competition on ABC, CBS, Fox and CW. The shows' continued premiere on Monday delivered NBC's highest 18–49 rating in this time period, excluding Olympics, in nearly eight years (since February 16, 2004) and the network's biggest overall non-Olympic viewership in the slot since January 15, 2007. That season, Kia Motors, Sprint, and Starbucks became the official sponsors of The Voice. The third season premiered on September 10, 2012. The fourth season premiered on March 25, 2013 with replacement judges, Shakira and Usher.

Format

Blind auditions

Each season begins with the "blind auditions", where coaches form their team of contestants (eight in the first season, twelve in the second and fourth, and sixteen in the third) whom they mentor through the remainder of the season. The coaches' chairs are faced towards the audience during contestants' performances; those interested in a contestant press their button, which turns their chair towards the contestant and illuminates the bottom of the chair to read "I want you". At the conclusion of the performance, a contestant either defaults to the only coach who turned around, or selects their coach if more than one coach expresses interest.

Battle rounds

In the "battle rounds", each coach pairs two of his or her team members to perform together, then chooses one to advance in the competition. In each season, coaches were assisted by celebrity mentors (From the first through third seasons: Adam Blackstone, Alanis Morissette, Robin Thicke, and Mary J. Blige for Team Adam; Reba McEntire, Kelly Clarkson, Miranda Lambert, and Michael Bublé for Team Blake; Monica, Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds, Ne-Yo, and Rob Thomas for Team Cee Lo; and Sia, Jewel, Lionel Richie, and Billie Joe Armstrong for Team Christina). A new element was added in season three; coaches were given two "steals", allowing each coach to select two individuals who were eliminated during a battle round by another coach. So far, season three contestant Jordan Pruitt and season four contestant Chelsea M are the only contestants that were ineligible for the "steal" due to the fact that their coach had the last steal(s).

Knockout rounds

The knockout rounds were also introduced in season three. A pair of contestants within a team are selected to sing individual performances in succession. The contestants get to choose their own songs in this round, although they continue to get help and advice from their respective coaches. At the conclusion of the performances, coaches would decide which one of each pair gets to advance to the next round.

Live shows

In the final live performance phase of the competition, contestants perform in weekly shows, where public voting narrows to a final group of contestants and eventually declares a winner. The coaches have the power to save one contestant that had not received the public's vote that week. As of season two, these contestants would give a last chance performance to win their coach's save. However, in deciding who moves on to the final four phase, the television audience and the coaches have equal say 50/50. With one team member remaining for each coach, the contestants compete against each other in the finale where the outcome is decided solely by public vote. In the first two seasons, one contestant from each team would advance to the final four. Due to the possibility of having multiple potential winners on the same team, eliminations were adjusted in the third season to eliminate contestants who earned the lowest number of votes, thus not guaranteeing a coach a contestant in the (reduced) final three. Season four contestants are narrowed down to a Final Four with the decision left up to voters.

Music releases and voting system

See also: The Voice (U.S. TV series) discography

In a first for a music competition series, NBC and Universal Republic Records offered fans of the show the ability to vote for their favorite artists by purchasing the studio versions of the songs that they perform on the live show each week via the iTunes Store. Alternative methods of voting can be done through toll-free phone calls by calling 1-855-Voice-##, text messaging (Provided by Sprint) and through online votes via NBC.com and Facebook. Each method is limited to ten votes per user.

As of the top 12 results show of season three, producers made changes in the voting system with regards to iTunes singles purchases. Previous voting via iTunes purchases of contestant performances had previously only counted singly during the official voting window and only accredited to the live show in concern. If a competitor's performance charts within the Top 10 of the iTunes "Top 200 Singles Chart" during this window, it will be given an iTunes bonus that multiplies iTunes votes made in the 12-hour voting window by ten. The finale's vote count will have include a 'Cumulative iTunes Vote Total' of all singles (from top 12 onwards) purchased during and outside of the various voting windows, with iTunes bonus previously earned.

Only the studio recording of the contestants' performances, not the live performance, are available on iTunes. In the first season, the battle rounds were recorded in the studio with both artists in the pairing. However, from season two onwards, only the winner's version of the song from the battle round is released. With the introduction of the Knockout Rounds in season three, where each contestant sang a separate song, only the winner's single is released.

Coaches and hosts

Coaches

Coaches

Cee Lo Green

Christina Aguilera

Adam Levine

Blake Shelton

Shakira

Usher

Cee Lo Green and Adam Levine (frontman for Maroon 5) became the first confirmed judges in February 2011, later followed by the hires of Christina Aguilera and Blake Shelton in March. Aguilera and Green left the series after the third season to pursue other career endeavors, and were replaced by Shakira and Usher for the fourth. Shakira and Usher announced that they would depart upon the conclusion of season 4.

Aguilera was confirmed to return for the fifth season, while Green is also expected to return. Shakira and Usher are scheduled to return for the sixth season.

Hosts

Carson Daly has hosted the series since the inaugural season. Alison Haislip served as the original "backstage online and social media correspondent" and was replaced by Christina Milian in the second season.

Series overview

Color key

     Team Adam

     Team Blake

     Team Cee Lo

     Team Christina

     Team Shakira

     Team Usher

Season	Premiere	Finale	Winner	Runner-up	Third place	Fourth place	Winning coach	Hosts		Coaches
1	Apr. 26, 2011	Jun. 29, 2011	Javier Colon	Dia Frampton	Vicci Martinez		Adam Levine	Carson Daly	Alison Haislip	Adam Levine Cee Lo Green Christina Aguilera Blake Shelton
					Beverly McClellan
2	Feb. 5, 2012	May 8, 2012	Jermaine Paul	Juliet Simms	Tony Lucca	Chris Mann	Blake Shelton		Christina Milian
3	Sep. 10, 2012	Dec. 18, 2012	Cassadee Pope	Terry McDermott	Nicholas David	Trevin Hunte	Blake Shelton
4	Mar. 25, 2013	Jun. 18, 2013								Adam Levine Usher Shakira Blake Shelton

1. ^ In season one, third and fourth place was a draw.

Coaches and their finalists

Contestant placing

•      – Winner
•      – Runner up

•      – Third place
•      – Fourth place

Names of the contestants who appeared as the final contestant of each of the coaches appear on top. The winner's name is bolded:

Season
	Adam Levine	Cee Lo Green	Christina Aguilera	Blake Shelton
1	Javier Colon Casey Weston Jeff Jenkins Devon Barley	Vicci Martinez Nakia Curtis Grimes The Thompson Sisters	Beverly McClellan Frenchie Davis Lily Elise Raquel Castro	Dia Frampton Xenia Jared Blake Patrick Thomas
2	Tony Lucca Katrina Parker Mathai Pip Karla Davis Kim Yarbrough	Juliet Simms Jamar Rogers Cheesa James Massone Erin Martin Tony Vincent	Chris Mann Lindsey Pavao Ashley De La Rosa Jesse Campbell Moses Stone Sera Hill	Jermaine Paul Erin Willett RaeLynn Jordis Unga Charlotte Sometimes Naia Kete
3	Amanda Brown Melanie Martinez Bryan Keith Loren Allred Joselyn Rivera	Nicholas David Trevin Hunte Cody Belew MacKenzie Bourg Diego Val	Dez Duron Sylvia Yacoub Adriana Louise De'Borah Devyn DeLoera	Cassadee Pope Terry McDermott Michaela Paige Julio Cesar Castillo Liz Davis
4	Adam Levine	Usher	Shakira	Blake Shelton
	Amber Carrington Judith Hill Sarah Simmons Caroline Glaser	Michelle Chamuel Josiah Hawley VEDO Cáthia	Sasha Allen Kris Thomas Garrett Gardner Karina Iglesias	Danielle Bradbery Holly Tucker The Swon Brothers Justin Rivers
5	Adam Levine	Cee Lo Green	Christina Aguilera	Blake Shelton

Note

1. ^ Color key is for coach placing, not to be confused with contestant placing.

Ratings

The first season premiered strong at 11.78 million viewers, and actually grew upon that audience through its first season. In the 18–49 demographic, the show constantly found itself in the top 5. For its average season rating, the show landed itself as No. 20 with total viewers at nearly 12 million viewers. In the 18–49 rankings, the show was No. 4 at a 5.4 ranking.

The second season premiered on Super Bowl Sunday, February 5, 2012, and for a while managed to keep a 6.0 in the adults 18–49 demographic and 17 million viewers. Partnering The Voice with Smash (NBC's musical drama) helped NBC win the Monday night ratings. However, by Monday, April 9, the ratings had fallen to a 4.0 rating in the adult 18–49 demographic.

The third season premiered on Monday, September 10, 2012 to 12.28 million viewers and a 4.2 rating in the 18–49 demographic and has since then grown to a season high 4.8 rating in the 18–49 demographic on October 8, October 15 and 29, 2012 and 4.9 rating in the finale. The Voice, along with NBC's new drama, Revolution has once again led NBC to win every Monday night of the season so far, just like it did last season. On Tuesdays, comedies Go On and The New Normal have been successful thanks to The Voice, leading NBC to be the only network of the Big 5 to grow in ratings from last season.

The fourth season premiered on Monday, March 25, 2013 to a 13.64 million viewer audience, scoring a 4.8 in the 18–49 demographic but fell back to 12.41 million viewer audience. In the 18–49 demographic, this first episode had a 4.1 score.

Season	Time slot (ET)	# Ep.	Premiered		Ended		TV season	Rank	Viewers (in millions)
			Date	Premiere viewers (in millions)	Date	Finale viewers (in millions)
1	Tuesday 9:00 pm (episodes 1–2, 7–9, 11) Tuesday 10:00 pm (episodes 3–6) Wednesday 8:15 pm (episode 10) Wednesday 8:00 pm (finale)	12	April 26, 2011	11.78	June 29, 2011	11.05	2010–11	No. 20	12.33
2	Sunday 10:21 pm Monday 8:00 pm Tuesday 9:00 pm	21	February 5, 2012	37.61	May 8, 2012	11.90	2011–12	No. 9	15.76
3	Monday 8:00 pm Tuesday 8:00 pm Wednesday 8:00 pm (episodes 3, 19) Thursday 8:00 pm (episode 20)	32	September 10, 2012	12.28	December 18, 2012	14.13	2012–13	No. 11	14.16
4	Monday 8:00 pm Tuesday 8:00 pm	28	March 25, 2013	13.64	June 18, 2013

1. †^{^} Including an episode that aired after a live broadcast of the Super Bowl:

• • 10:19–10:30 = 46.786 million viewers (retention: 76.68% - football game itself reached a peak of 118.355 million viewers)
  • 10:30–10:45 = 39.494 million viewers
  • 10:45–11:00 = 36.310 million viewers
  • 11:00–11:15 = 32.630 million viewers
  • 11:15–11:21 = 31.792 million viewers

DVR ratings

April 23, 2012: 1.006 million

International broadcasting

Channels in bold also broadcast their own version of The Voice.

Asia

Television channels that aired The Voice in Asia
Country	Television Channel	Airing Date
Bangladesh	AXN Asia	August 21, 2011
Brunei
Cambodia
Hong Kong
India
Indonesia
Israel	Channel 2	September 15, 2011
Laos	AXN Asia	August 21, 2011
Malaysia
Maldives
Myanmar
Nepal
Pakistan
Philippines	AXN Asia	August 21, 2011
	Studio 23	March 31, 2012
Singapore	AXN Asia	August 21, 2011
South Korea	AXN Asia	August 21, 2011
	Mnet	November 25, 2011
Taiwan	AXN Asia	August 21, 2011
United Arab Emirates	Dubai One	November 18, 2011

Europe

Television channels that aired The Voice in Europe
Country	Television Channel	Airing Date
Albania	Top Channel	October 2011
Belgium	vtm (Flanders)	November 25, 2011
	La Une (Wallonia)	December 20, 2011
Denmark	TV2	November 26, 2011
Finland	Nelonen	April 27, 2012
France	TF1	February 25, 2012
Hungary	TV2	October 2012
Iceland	Skjár einn	September 14, 2012
Ireland	RTÉ One	January 8, 2012
Lithuania	LNK	2012 (Not confirmed)
Norway	TV2	January 2012
Poland	TVP 2	September 3, 2011
Portugal	Fox Life	October 8, 2012
Russia	Channel One	October 5, 2012
Spain	Telecinco	September 19, 2012
Ukraine	1+1	May 22, 2011

The Americas

Television channels that aired The Voice in the Americas
Country	Television Channel	Airing Date
Argentina	Telefe	April/May 2012
Canada	CTV	April 26, 2011
	TVA	April 26, 2011
Chile	BBC Entertainment	February 15, 2012
Colombia	BBC Entertainment	February 15, 2012
	Caracol TV	October 1, 2012
Costa Rica	BBC Entertainment	February 15, 2012
Ecuador
Mexico	Televisa	February 15, 2012
Panama	BBC Entertainment	February 15, 2012
Peru
Venezuela

Africa and Oceania

Television channels that aired The Voice in Africa and Oceania
Country	Television Channel	Airing Date
South Africa	SABC 3	October 5, 2011
Australia	Go!	August 9, 2011
New Zealand	TV2	July 16, 2011

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Recipients	Result	Source
2011	TCA Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming	The Voice	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV: Breakout Show	The Voice	Won
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV: Reality Competition	The Voice	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV: Male Personality	Adam Levine	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV: Female Personality	Christina Aguilera	Nominated
	ALMA Award	Favorite TV Reality, Variety, or Comedy Personality or Act	Christina Aguilera	Nominated
2012	GLAAD Media Awards	Outstanding Reality Program	The Voice	Nominated
	People's Choice Awards	Favorite TV Competition Show	The Voice	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV: Reality Competition	The Voice	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV: Male Personality	Cee Lo Green	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Choice TV: Female Personality	Christina Aguilera	Nominated
	ALMA Award	Favorite TV Reality, Variety, or Comedy Personality or Act	Christina Aguilera	Won
	Critics' Choice Television Awards	Best Reality Series – Competition	The Voice	Won
	TCA Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Reality Programming	The Voice	Nominated
	Billboard Mid-Year Music Awards	Best Music Reality Show	The Voice	Won
	Tubey Awards	Best Competitive Reality Show	The Voice	Nominated	[citation needed]
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Reality-Competition Program	The Voice	Nominated
	Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award	Outstanding Art Direction for Variety or Nonfiction Programming	The Voice	Nominated
	Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award	Outstanding Hairstyling for a Multi-Camera Series or Special	The Voice	Nominated
	Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award	Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety Series	The Voice	Nominated
2013	People's Choice Awards	Favorite TV Competition Show	The Voice	Nominated
	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Celebrity Judge	Adam Levine	Nominated
	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Celebrity Judge	Christina Aguilera	Nominated
	Producer's Guild of America Awards	Outstanding Production in Reality Television Programming	The Voice	Won
	Kid's Choice Awards	Favorite Reality Show	The Voice	Nominated

External links

• Official website on NBC.com
• The Voice at the Internet Movie Database
• The Voice at TV.com

Preceded by Glee 2011

Super Bowl lead-out program The Voice 2012

Succeeded by Elementary 2013