Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

By the Numbers: America's Favorite Reality Singing Shows

22/03/2019

American Idol and The Voice have long been the gold standards for music-focused reality competitions, but earlier this year a new entrant threw a weird monkey wrench into the arena: Fox's The Masked Singer, hosted by Nick Cannon and featuring judges Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke and a procession of celebrity competitors hidden behind hilariously elaborate costumes.

We wanted to see how the established shows and the upstart compare when it comes to the sponsors footing the bills, as well as viewership trends.

Below, a look at some advertising insights according to iSpot.tv, the TV ad measurement and attribution company. Note that it's hard to draw a direct comparison between ad dollars spent and impressions generated because NBCs The Voice and ABCs American Idol only began their latest seasons recently while Masked Singer finished up its debut season at the end of February. But we've included a summary thus far.

Related: Fox Orders Season Two of Masked Singer

The Masked Singer: 116 brands spent an estimated $39.4 million advertising during the first season, generating over 1.7 billion TV ad impressions.

The Voice: 168 brands have spent an estimated $46.4 million since the still-in-progress season began on Feb. 25, generating over 2.7 billion impressions.

American Idol: 152 brands have spent an estimated $34.9 million since the still-in-progress season began on March 3, generating over 1.8 billion impressions.

For American Idol and The Voice, automakers top the list of industries generating the most impressions, while for The Masked Singer, it's movie studios (which also appear in the top five most impressions-generating industries for the former two shows and is the only industry on all three shows' top five lists, not counting the networks' own promo pods).

As for gender breakdown, while American Idol and The Voice have slightly larger female viewership (around 52% female for both), The Masked Singer audiences skewed a bit more male.

We also worked with Inscape, the TV data company with glass-level insights from a panel of more than 10 million smart TVs, to check out the audience crossover and other shows watched by viewers of the three shows. A note about methodology: You have to do more than just flip past a station with your remote to count as a crossover viewer in Inscape's system. For the data below, the minimum viewing threshold is 10 minutes.

Via Inscape

The biggest crossover was between American Idol and The Voice, with 43% of American Idol's audience also checking out The Voice. Also notable is that nearly the same number of Voice fans have also tuned into both The Masked Singer and American Idol.

When it comes to other shows watched by these viewers, topping the list are Ellen's Game of Games, World of Dance, Little Big Shots and America's Got Talent. It would seem that if you're a fan of one of these reality singing competitions, you're likely to be watching the others plus a lot of other reality competitions as well.

Via Inscape

We also examined trends around online video, using data from social video analytics company Tubular Labs. Note: the date range for the data below is for Jan. 1 through March. 19.

The Masked Singer has posted more videos across social platforms than the other shows 688, compared to American Idol's 438 and The Voice's 435. But when it comes to video views, American Idol and The Voice dwarf The Masked Singer. Interestingly, although both American Idol and The Voice seem to prioritize putting videos on Facebook over YouTube, for The Voice it's YouTube that's generating more views. And The Masked Singer has put far more videos on Twitter than Facebook or YouTube, but it's YouTube that's grabbing the most eyeballs for the nascent series.

The Masked Singer

- 316 videos uploaded to Twitter resulting in 32.8 million views

- 205 videos uploaded to Facebook resulting in 12.4 million views

- 167 videos uploaded to YouTube resulting in 89.4 million views

Here is The Masked Singer's most-watched video so far with 3.9 million views, 3.1 million of which occurred within the first few days according to Tubular's analytics.

American Idol

- 153 videos uploaded to Twitter resulting in 29.1 million views

- 194 videos uploaded to Facebook resulting in 338 million views

- 91 videos uploaded to YouTube resulting in 85.5 million views

Here is American Idol's most-viewed video so far with 16 million views, 4.1 million of which occurred in the first seven days according to Tubular's V7 rating.

The Voice

- 154 videos uploaded to Twitter resulting in 14.5 million views

- 183 videos uploaded to Facebook resulting in 118 million views

- 98 videos uploaded to YouTube resulting in 163 million views

Here is The Voice's most-watched video so far (6.4 million views) that was posted just a few days ago.
LINK: https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/by-the-numbers-americas-favorit...
See more stories from bandc

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

21/02/2026

OBS CTO Sotiris Salamouris on the Legacy of the 2026 Winter Games

With Software Defined Broadcasting more established in Milan Cortina look for Los Angeles 2028 to have less hardware and more cloud-based software systems...

21/02/2026

Invisible String: NBC Olympics' Marsha Bird on the Hidden Work That Makes the Games Shine

The SVP of Olympic Operations on turning CAD drawings into reality, building tru...

21/02/2026

NAB Urges FCC to Tamp Down Reallocation Plans for Upper C-Band

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/02/2026

Chyron Paint 10.3 Adds New Visualization Features for Live Action

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/02/2026

Netflix Unveils the Trailer of Accused', A Psychological Drama on Power, Perception and Public Judgment

Back to All News Netflix Unveils the Trailer of Accused', A Psychological ...

20/02/2026

Gravity Media, Green Couch Entertainment Partner to Create Original Programming for International Broadcasters

Gravity Media and Los Angeles-based Green Couch Entertainment announce a strateg...

20/02/2026

IMAX, Apple TV Bring 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship Races to Selected U.S. Locations

IMAX announces it is working with Apple TV to bring the 2026 FIA Formula One Wor...

20/02/2026

Big Upgrade to Spring Training Experience With New Daktronics Displays at Phillies' BayCare Ballpark

Daktronics has partnered with the Philadelphia Phillies to design, manufacture, ...

20/02/2026

ESPN To Launch Women's Sports Sundays, a New Summer Weekly Primetime Franchise

ESPN announces the upcoming launch of Women's Sports Sundays - a first-of-it...

20/02/2026

Sennheiser Spectera Handheld Makes Broadcast Debut at Super Bowl LX

As the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots faced off in the NFL's biggest sporting event of the season on Sun., Feb. 8, Sennheiser wireless solutions ...

20/02/2026

ESPN To Stream More MLB Spring Training Games Than Ever in 2026

ESPN announces its 2026 Major League Baseball spring training schedule, which includes four national games on ESPN, six games on ESPN Unlimited, and more than 2...

20/02/2026

Open Broadcast Systems Launches 200 Gigabit Ethernet

Open Broadcast Systems, which specializes in software-based professional video transport, has added support for 200 Gigabit Ethernet to its range of encoders an...

20/02/2026

Chyron PAINT 10.3 Adds New Ways To Visualize Live Sports

Chyron announces the release of PAINT 10.3, which is designed to help analysts and operators turn live action into clearer, faster on-air storytelling. PAINT 1...

20/02/2026

Live Spring Training Games Begin Feb. 20 on MLB Network With Yankees Against Orioles

With full squad workouts underway, MLB Network's live Spring Training game s...

20/02/2026

MLS Kickoff 2026: As FIFA Men's World Cup Looms, League's Media Operations and Apple TV Aim To Enhance Viewing Experience

Tech enhancements, marquee productions are expected to take advantage of a summe...

20/02/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 4: Temple Athletics' Paige Wisehaupt - Driving Digital Content for the Cherry & White

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

20/02/2026

BBC Sport's Focus on Clips, Social Media and a Highlights-Free Games

Speaking with SVG Europe after one of Team GB's greatest days at a Winter Olympics, BBC Sport's head of major events, Ron Chakraborty, explains the broa...

20/02/2026

Warner Bros. Discovery on Making Olympic Magic for Multiple Local Markets From Its Studios in Cortina and Livigno

Making Winter Games Olympic magic is the goal for every broadcaster in Italy cov...

20/02/2026

OBS Curling Directors Brie Robertson and Susan Young Talk Olympic Experiences and Keeping the Story Going with the Lights Out

Curling, one of the least-dangerous Winter Olympic sports, is dominating the Mil...

20/02/2026

How Digital First' Goals Are Bringing Together Linear and Online Editorial for BBC Sport Coverage at the Winter Olympics

BBC Sport's presence at the 2026 Winter Games is centred around a significan...

20/02/2026

Pinning Digital Content Onto the Backbone of a Strong Linear Infrastructure for BBC Sport in Cortina

BBC Sport is bringing together its linear TV and streaming digital arms in a str...

20/02/2026

BBC Sport Talks Influencers and Athletes in its Bid to Pivot to a Digital First' Strategy for the Games

To broaden the appeal of winter sports at Milano Cortina, the BBC has integrated...

20/02/2026

DIRECTV Adds Apple TV's Formula 1 Racing for Residential and DIRECTV FOR BUSINESS Customers

Just in time for the start of Apple TV's inaugural season as the exclusive U...

20/02/2026

NBC Olympics VP Creative David Barton Dives into Milano-Cortina 2026 Graphics Package, Now You Know' Animations

One big challenge was to depict the character of each of very different and wide...

20/02/2026

By Design Director Asks Festival Audience to Flirt With Their Chairs at Premiere

(L-R) Writer-director Amanda Kramer photographs the photographers at the premiere of her film By Design at the Library Center Theatre in Park City. (Photo by ...

20/02/2026

When Memory Gets Expensive, Is it Time to Swap the Box?

In our latest blog, Tim Pearson explores the impact that increased memory prices are having on the consumer electronics market, and particularly the set-top box...

20/02/2026

Calrec Type R: Shaping the Future of Radio at Flirt FM

Calrec Type R: Shaping the Future of Radio from the Heart of Flirt FM Love may have filled the airwaves last week for Valentine's Day, and we've just c...

20/02/2026

Super Bowl LX Delivers 125.6 Million Viewers

NEW YORK - February 10, 2026 - An estimated 125.6* million viewers watched Super Bowl LX on Sunday, February 8, according to Nielsen's Big Data Panel meas...

20/02/2026

Nielsen: Super Bowl LX Final Viewership Rises to 125.6 Million Viewers with Verified Big Data

NEW YORK - February 19, 2026 - Nielsen today shared updated and final Super Bowl...

20/02/2026

NHPBS Taps Heartland Video Systems for ATSC 3.0 Launch

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/02/2026

Lightware and Cisco interoperability brings AV system suc...

A leading global investment bank, with offices at Two International Finance Centre in Hong Kong, partnered with systems integrators Global Vision Engineering (G...

20/02/2026

Rise AV and Rise Broadcast unite for International Womens...

Rise AV and Rise Broadcast, the global not-for-profit organisations dedicated to improving gender diversity across technical industries, have today announced a ...

20/02/2026

Open Broadcast Systems launches Two Hundred Gigabit Ether...

Open Broadcast Systems, the leader in software-based professional video transport, has added support for 200 Gigabit Ethernet to its range of encoders and decod...

20/02/2026

Signiant Launches Customer Advisory Board to Help Shape t...

Signiant today announced the formation of its Customer Advisory Board (CAB), bringing together a select group of customers to collaborate on product strategy, r...

20/02/2026

PTZOptics launches its Visual Reasoning initiative and pa...

PTZOptics today announced the launch of its Visual Reasoning initiative that makes video more actionable by combining robotic PTZ camera systems, AI, and open i...

20/02/2026

DELTA and Amino Complete Certification of Amigo 7N Androi...

Amino, a global media technology provider delivering devices, software and cloud services that simplify and elevate video delivery, today announced the successf...

20/02/2026

SMPTE Opens Call for Papers for 2026 Media Technology Sum...

SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, today announced its call for technical papers for the SMPTE 2026 Media Technology Summit....

20/02/2026

Granicus Standardizes Hybrid Government-Grade Video Infra...

Wowza Media Systems today announced that Granicus, a leading provider of digital engagement solutions for governments, continues to rely on Wowza to power its h...

20/02/2026

CBS Baltimore Launches New AR/VR Studio

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/02/2026

IAB Tech Lab Opens Public Comment on Live Event Ad Playbook

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/02/2026

Study: Sports Programming on Major Streamers Up 52% YoY

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/02/2026

ESPN to launch Women's Sports Sundays

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/02/2026

Tegna, Seattle Kraken Extend Broadcast Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/02/2026

Signiant Announces Customer Advisory Board

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...