“The Voice” vs. “American Idol”: Why doesn’t “The Voice” produce successful artists?

“The Voice” has been consistently beating “American Idol” in viewership — but where are its post-competition stars?

Written By Minnah Zaheer

Photo courtesy of NBC

I’ll be honest: I’m from a family of very big fans of “The Voice.” And my family aren’t the only ones — “The Voice” averages millions of viewers a night, consistently outpacing its main competitor “American Idol.”

One thing “American Idol” has on The Voice, however, is its ability to produce household names. Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, and many others found their fame through winning or being finalists on “American Idol.” Clarkson and Hudson have even gone on to become judges for “The Voice.”

But can you name any winners of “The Voice” with successful careers?

Both “American Idol” and “The Voice” are singing competition shows in which anyone can audition to make it to live shows. At-home viewers then vote each week to keep their favorite contestants in the show until a final winner is picked during the season finale. “American Idol,” which debuted on Fox in 2002, has been around much longer than “The Voice,” which debuted on NBC in 2011.

“American Idol” essentially invented the format that shows like “The X-Factor” and “America’s Got Talent” drew inspiration from. Despite regularly high viewership, its 15th season served as its final one on the Fox network in 2015. In 2017, however, ABC announced their intention to revive the show for a 16th season, and the show has since been renewed for a 17th season.

“The Voice” has seen consistently high ratings since its season one premiere. Although it’s never reached the 30 million viewers of premieres and finales that American Idol reached during its peak, “The Voice” maintains an average of around ten million viewers per season. Additionally, it has been outpacing “American Idol” since Idol’s revival despite having record-low viewership.

Idol winners and finalists, like Clarkson and Underwood, have gone on to receive Grammy awards and become consistent chart-toppers. However, “The Voice’s” most popular winner wasn’t even a finalist.

Fifth place winner Melanie Martinez has amassed a small but powerful cult following after her appearance on “The Voice’s” third season, and sexual assault allegations against her have hurt her career significantly. None of the other Voice competitors have considerable followings, nor have any of them gone on to become Grammy nominees or household names.

Many have speculated on the discrepancies between the two shows, but the reasoning behind “The Voice” contestants’ lack of success actually doesn’t have much to do with the numbers –– it’s because the show prioritizes the entertainment value of its coaches over its actual contestants.

The so-called “bromance” between coaches Adam Levine and Blake Shelton has been a repeated source of the show’s appeal since the first season of the show, and the two are the only judges who haven’t left the show for a single season since its inception. Other celebrity judges include Christina Aguilera, Pharrell, Miley Cyrus, and Alicia Keys. 14 seasons later, and my mother still watches the show every week. Even though she remains interested in the competitors while the episode is on, she hasn’t cast a single vote for an artist since around the fifth season of the show. She even goes as far as to openly admit that she watches the show just for Adam Levine, who she thinks is not only physically attractive but also a talented musician. If we’re being honest, though, it’s more the latter than the former. It’s not hard to imagine that this phenomenon happens in many other households and by many other fans of the show.

Where “American Idol” has consistently produced successful artists, “The Voice” pays much less attention to what happens to competitors once leaving the show. Winners are awarded $100,000 and a record deal with Universal Music Group, but this doesn’t seem to ever have helped competitors achieve success in the music scene.

At the end of the day, shows like “American Idol” and “The Voice” exist to general audiences as pure entertainment. “The Voice” plays to this angle more than “American Idol,” which is likely a big part of why it falls behind in producing commercially successful artists the way Idol does. “The Voice” is definitely doing well for itself, with its high viewership and Emmy award wins throughout its run. But in order to compete with the legacy of “American Idol,” it needs to start producing successful artists and stop focusing on the judges. By turning its attention to finding competitors with unique personalities and not just basic vocal talent, they won’t have to rely on celebrity power to keep them going.