A special Wednesday night airing of "The Voice" results show brought NBC's singing competition to a series low — but it still beat Fox's "American Idol" in a head-to-head competition. "Idol" remained steady with last week to drive the network to an overall win for the night, and ABC's "Modern Family" scored the best individual ratings, according to preliminary numbers.
"Idol," which filled Fox's primetime slate, posted a 2.8 rating/8 share in the advertiser-sought 18-49 demographic — even with last week — and had 10.8 million total viewers, the night's largest audience. Together, those numbers put Fox in first place in both ratings and total viewers.
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CBS was second in ratings and total viewers with a 2.4/7 and 9.7 million. "Survivor" at 8 p.m. inched up to a 2.5/8 and drew 9.3 million total viewers, while "Criminal Minds" the following hour was also up slightly, drawing a 2.5/7 and taking 9.9 million total viewers. "CSI" jumped 16 percent from last week to a 2.2/6 and had 9.7 million total viewers.
NBC took third place in ratings and total viewers with a 2.1/6 and 7.5 million. The special "Voice" airing drew a 2.7/8 — down 27 percent from Tuesday's episode, and a series low excluding recaps — and had 8.7 million total viewers.
The good news for "The Voice" is that it not only beat out "Idol" — which had a 2.5/8 from 8 to 9 p.m. — during their common hour but appears to have boosted "Law & Order: SVU" at 9, which climbed 27 percent to a 1.9/5 and had 7 million total viewers. "Chicago Fire" at 10 ticked up slightly, taking a 1.8/5 with 6.9 million total viewers.
ABC was fourth in ratings and total viewers with a 1.9/5 and 6.1 million. The network's primetime slate saw declines all around, starting with "The Middle" at 8, which dropped 10 percent to tie a series low of 1.8/6 and took 6.7 million total viewers. The new comedy "Family Tools," which premiered soft last week, fell another 27 percent at 8:30, taking a 1.1/3 with 4.4 million total viewers.
"Modern Family" at 9 was also down, falling 14 percent to a season low of 3.1/9, but was nonetheless the night's top-rated show. It had 8.8 million total viewers. The freshman comedy "How to Live With Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)" at 9:30 ticked down to a 2.0/5 with 6 million total viewers, while "Nashville" at 10 suffered a modest drop, posting a 1.6/4 and taking 5.4 million total viewers.