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'Dancing With the Stars': Why a former Backstreet Boy could win it all

Another celebrity contestant departed the reality competition 'Dancing' as the end of the season nears. Meanwhile, can 'Dancing' pull in younger viewers?

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Adam Taylor/ABC/AP
'Dancing With the Stars' contestants Lindsay Arnold (l.) and Alek Skarlatos (r.) perform on the show.

The newest episode of “Dancing With the Stars” ended with the departure of singer Andy Grammer and his professional dance partner.

The “Honey, I’m Good” singer and his partner, Allison Holker, left the show after performing a Viennese waltz during a week in which contestants were asked to base their routines around someone who inspired them. Grammer spoke about his late mother. 

Meanwhile, former Backstreet Boy Nick Carter and his partner Sharna Burgess earned a perfect score of 30 for the night. Two teams tied for second place, conservationist Bindi Irwin and her partner Derek Hough, and singer Tamar Braxton and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy.

"Dancing" is approaching the end of this season's competition, so it will be interesting to see if the three can maintain the momentum to make it to the end.

"Dancing With the Stars" remains a popular show in terms of overall viewers – during the 2014-2015 TV season, “Dancing” placed among the top 10 most-watched shows of the year, coming in ninth. 

However, “Dancing” seems to appeal mostly to older viewers. Among the desirable 18-49 demographic, the show doesn't even crack the top 40.

By comparison, the NBC competition “The Voice” manages to appeal more widely to different demographics, drawing more 18-49-year-old viewers, coming in tenth place for the 2014-2015 TV season.

Why is “Voice” so much more popular with young viewers? The singing reality competition has an unusual gimmick: judges listen to prospective contestants with their chairs turned away and must decide whether they like them based only upon their voices. Perhaps younger viewers are attracted by this fresh concept, which is different from previous singing competitions like “American Idol” and “The Voice.” 

In addition, "Voice" judges are often musicians who have current hits. For the latest season, judge Adam Levine’s band Maroon 5 has been a consistent presence on the Billboard Hot 100. Judge Blake Shelton's "Reloaded: 20 #1 Hits" was released in Oct.Millennial viewers are no doubt familiar with the songs of judge Gwen Stefani’s band No Doubt, and judge Pharrell Williams has had several recent hits over the past few years, including his mega-hit “Happy” and collaborations with Daft Punk and Robin Thicke. 

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