The 22m figure is for two series. By the end of the run it will work out as around 490k per hour. Just above Strictly[produced in house] but below The Apprentice in cost terms.

Bugger. Not only is Voice a confirmed hit, it's actually helping BGT to record improved ratings when there was a real hope the show would decline again. Cowell doesn't half get some luck...

I think you're right. Not sure why the BBC Press Office shot its load so quickly with news of its (TW's) demise. They could easily have left it until tomorrow.

Prior to The X Factor introducing an audience at the audition stage the year that Cheryl Cole joined, all the audition shows for the singing contests (Pop Idol, Popstars, X Factor) were low-key, cheap-looking affairs with no studio audience.

Isn't the 22m just for the rights?

Mipcom is crap if those formats are anything to go by. I could make up a format in my head in 10 minutes which is better than all of those.

Heres my format: 'The Feet': ten of Britain's best amateur singers are given the challenge to learn the art of dancing by competing in up to 8 consecutive weeks of live shows with a professional dancer. Each week, the singers are taught a new routine by their professional partners, who they will get to know and form relationships with through hours of training midweek, and they must perform their routines in front of the nation on Saturday nights. 'The Feet' is a unique competition which allows a greater scope of dancing than any other talent show: it is not just ballroom and latin, 'The Feet' allows competitors to attempt street dancing, tap dancing and many other kinds of dancing with the help of expert mentors throughout the weeks. But that is not all... 'The Feet' is different because it is not only about dancing, its about singing. Alongside dancing each week, the contestants are given an opportunity to sing too. 3 of the 4 judges mark the dancing while 1 marks the singing (each out of 10). This effectively gives contestants a final chance to go up the leaderboard if they dance underpar but knock it out of the park with their song. The public votes, the scores are all combined, the bottom 2 revealed, the judges send home one. Week by week the number of contestants are reduced until the grand final when finally the winner of 'The Feet' is announced: Britain's best new amateur singing dancer.

Only joking by the way . But its still better than some of those ideas lol... I think so anyway .

NBC had a 0.2 yesterday... a 0.2 , must be their worst rating ever! http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...epeats/126933/

Will be interesting to see tonight's BBC3/ITV2 repeat ratings. The Voice on at 7pm BBC3 directly against Britain's Got Talent starting at 6.55.

Very much hope we get those ratings tomorrow!

Lol, I was going to say something similar. Certainly its putting a huge likeminded audience one click of a remote away, and are they going to stay for Dale? Probably not.

Interesting one, how many viewers does Pobol y Cwm attract and what is its audience share in Wales?

BBC1 providing a strong lead-in for BGT when ITV1 can't be arsed (or talented enough).

Never mind, Robbie, it's Silent Witness v Titanic tonight. TV's most unassuming drama hit dishing out a kicking to everybody's favourite posh scriptwriter. That'll cheer you up.

This would only happen to you Robbie.

Drownton Abbey should 'sink' tonight so that'll cheer you up.

The Titanic has become a real life Titanic, it will sink big time tonight. It's this year's A Year in Provence, an expensive, overhyped failure.
However, back to BGT, it's maybe because the standard of entrants is better this year that the ratings are up. Cowell must be mightily relieved as last year was not his year.

nice rating for The Voice, both holding and increasing its audience, few shows manage that for the second episode.

BGT not showing any signs of slipping.

The show is massively improved on last year. The panel is stronger with Walliams turning out to be the real star signing over Alesha. His bromance with Cowell makes for great TV. Plus Simon is back, the editing is much better and it just makes for a much fresher show. Last year's series was stale and they're lucky that happened last year when The Voice wasn't here. Could have been a very different story.

If the BBC has any sense they will run The Voice from 7:20PM just to screw cowell over a little more

I think if Doctor who starts before the voice ends then this could be the case (or even Later) i was at work so didn't see the Voice last night but i've heard people still prasing it which could only be a good thing

The BBC generally speaking pays less than commercial TV. Remember what Louis Walsh said about The Voice having trouble securing coaches due to offering low salaries? He was right. The fact they got that panel for the money they offered is a bloody miracle! I was hearing off the record that the combined coach salary on The Voice is still less than what a certain X Factor judge makes. Also The Voice still isn't as expensive to put on as The X Factor. So everybody have a think about that.
And what a difference auditions in front of an arena make to the electricity and excitement of the show. When Danny Cohen went for The Voice he knew that it couldn't be done on the cheap. People will see that when the Battle Rounds take place at Fountain Studios and then the live shows at the George Lucas Stage at Elstree where Dancing On Ice comes from. That set is going to be massive!

I don't think Doctor Who will be starting until the Autumn. Forgive me if i'm wrong but i think the BBC have comfirmed this.

Has anybody got the rating for the last ever episode of Weakest Link that aired yesterday afternoon?

Well, I wasn't expecting both shows to increase especially with the overlap and the reduced length of BGT. TV's 9m is an excellent figure and including +1, BGT is at a massive 10.8m. ITV will be very pleased with that. I thought it was definitely going to be down on last week - shows what we all know! TMO did OK, but out of a 12m lead-in...it does look quite poor. It's the last episode next week anyway and then maybe ITV will move BGT completely away from TV. The interesting thing is, that without the clash, ITV would be getting even bigger numbers and putting BGT firmly back in a good spot. However, the figures are still very impressive and there must be a certain amount of relief too especially considering the dips TXF took last year!

You are correct. The next series of Who is Autumn and probably late Autumn.

I must have missed that then,Thanks

It did seem stale and the tabloids were indulging in a bit of Schadenfreude as ratings started to fall. I do think BGT, which is close to New Faces and Opportunity Knocks in its format, will probably outlive TXF, which has become a victim of its own hype.

You've got to remember though that X Factor is a much longer series than The Voice, running for around double the number of hours per year. So Gary Barlow's rumoured £1.5m salary for TXF works out at approximately £750k for the (roughly) 20 hours that The Voice will air. IIRC, last year Tulisa got £250k, Louis got £1m and Kelly got £500k so they spent around £3.25m on judges for a ~42 hour series, so around £80k per hour. On The Voice meanwhile the judges are apparently getting £1.15m in total over ~20 hours, so around £57k per hour is being spent on judges, so there isn't really much difference in the hourly spend there. I'd expect those costs to rise on TVUK next year too (although it'll probably run for more hours).

If they're paying £22m for 2 years then they'll be paying £11m for this series, which over 20 hours works out at £550k per hour. Not sure whether that includes talent, production etc but either way it's pretty expensive for an entertainment show (less than the Cowell shows but more than Strictly and similar to DOI). It's still cheaper than drama though and with 9 million viewers it's definitely been a hugely worthwhile investment for BBC1.

ITV are paying £40m per year for the Cowell shows, so as TXF runs for around double the number of hours per year as BGT it looks like they're paying just over £13m per year for BGT, which over ~20 hours works out at around £650k per hour. Again I don't know what this includes, but the difference between the two shows budgets isn't actually that huge, and both cost their broadcasters a fair bit.

I think The Voice is giving it a boost but the biggest boost to BGT is the fact that its airing 4/5 weeks earlier than previous years. There is a big difference in a May Saturday night and a late March one especially in the 8pm slot.
Last nights episode was down 0.2 of a sharepoint on last years 2nd episode but was up 1.3m in raw viewers!