Fair point. Mad Mad World doesn't sound great, but I still think they should give it a shot.


I think that'd work OK but I don't really see the point. Benidorm and Corrie are a pretty perfect match for each other, so I doubt Benidorm would do much better after BGT, and Benidorm is one of their only Friday night hits so they'd be damaging that night too (although Piers Morgan seems to have settled into the Friday slot rather nicely).

No excuses for BGT not topping the ratings in the morning. Huge lead-in, later slot etc..

I noticed BBC One aired the trailer for Planet Earth Live tonight for the first time. I wonder if this will be on Sundays at 8pm - after The Voice results. That would seem sensible scheduling, and would make the scheduling of The Voice results more understandable.

Planet Earth Live is eight parts through May, so twice a week presumably. So I'd imagine two days out of either Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday at 8pm. Sundays and Wedensdays at 8 would be perfect IMO.

I agree though. The show is getting **** all chat.
Cowell? Sure, but it actually isn't played towards on the show, if anything comments on his relationships only back up the idea he is someone we don't want to watch!

I'd say hes the weakest thing on the show this year

They've really lacked any 'talent' promotion, which I think really draws attention to the 'lack there of'


@Score, your forgetting that unlike BBC, ITV are unable to hold onto an audience. Benidorm might, and a boost to its ratings would mean a benefit overall I'd think!

The Voice clashing for the first five minutes will drag down the share, plus The Voice has the momentum and the press coverage - and it was hardly a lovely summer's day outside so again the early start shouldn't hurt the show. I'd be surprised, for these reasons, if The Voice doesn't win the night.

To be honest, you get the sense that Cowell doesn't really know how to exploit anything other than the singing acts. I don't know whether he's had very much at all to do with the continued career of any other type of act.

There was a one-off ITV special for the impressionist, Paul Burling, a few Christmasses ago - but it didn't go anywhere further.


The two shows seem to benefit each other in the same way Strictly and XF do in the autumn.

The past few weeks show SyCo have nothing to fear for BGT at all. Fundamentally, I think its a great, simple format. And whats more, it's fairly easy to distinguish from The Voice - both in terms of the variety of talent it showcases, and the funny, light-hearted tone people like Walliams and Ant & Dec bring to it. Ironically, in some ways, it is to The Voice what Strictly is to XF...

For SyCo, it'll be much more interesting to see how they position TXF, because that job could be much more difficult. This apparent reaction against the 'cynicism', 'exploitation' or 'nastiness' of Cowell's shows is way, way more applicable to TXF than it is to BGT. They could respond by ramping all those things up yet further and trusting that the audience don't really care - or they could venture down a more cuddly, "authentic" path. That's a big choice, and the answer isn't obvious.

Cant see that myself.

The Voice is handing BGT a 12m lead-in and BGT has done very well in the later slots before. Anything but a BGT win would be a surprise to me.

Hmm, I know it sounds weird but to me The Voice has the feel of a show which cannot be beaten. However well Britain's Got Talent does, The Voice will still beat it. For now, the sense of the show is it's impregnable. Plus I think Britain's Got Talent may lose people over the last half hour as they go out for the evening; who'll then catch up with the numerous repeats throughout the week. 9.15pm is a satisfactory end time if someone wants an evening out. 9.45pm seems late.

Saying that, didn't a BGT which aired between 8.20pm and 9.50pm rate well before?

I hope so. Sundays would surely seem like too big an opportunity to turn down. And though 9pm might deliver better figures midweek, it'd be great to see something of this scale in the 8pm hour. The sort of big programming we're always saying the pre-watershed weekday schedules need.

Yep May 6th according to Julia Bradbury on Twitter. Against BGT?


https://twitter.com/#!/JuliaBradbury

w/e 31 May 2009

BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT (SAT 2131) - 18.29m

BGT has had some great acts over the years, does this year seem a big rubbish by comparison? Everyone who is standing out seems to have a foreign accent. It will clear 10m easily tomorrow, I can see the +1 figure dropping though, I think The Voice could still win - imagine a draw 10.5m each

OK, let me rephrase - for an auditions show!

EDIT: And that's the official figure rather than the overnight!

Yet the show is up +10% on last year's figures.

Cowell must be distraught ..!

now the game is over, and ive dusted off my old Oakland Athletics hat.

Looking at the box score, he did it with 9 Ks, which is above average for such a game.

Well think about it, its just more money he has to worry about

People, people, people. How many times must I say this?

Trending on Twitter is fun but it can't be used to predict ratings, neither can the number of posts in a thread. BGT is still popular with overnights and consolidated ratings up on last year. BGT should do well as it has a later start, no clash and will be getting a very big lead in from The Voice. It'll start at a higher point than The Voice usually does so should win in the overnights.

That's my theory anyway.

So, based on this thread tonight...

The Voice - 26.4m
Britain's Got Talent - 3.2m




I'd be wary of this argument for a number of reasons.

1) History suggests that people aren't too fussed about what the winners do.

2) The Voice USA had a winner whose first week sales were one quarter of what Leon Jackson sold. Indeed, winning The Voice sent him backwards as he sold more albums when he released on an independent label several years earlier. But returning to point #1, nobody really cared. Although it did amuse many at Sony Music.

3) I'm not sure X Factor has to worry about being seen to deliver "genuine stars" when a third place act just got a US #1 album. Indeed, while it may be perceived to be ailing, there are probably more successful XF acts kicking around just now than at any time in the past.

4) The Voice isn't about finding a genuine star. It's about the associated parties cashing in. John De Mol has some big debts to repay on his re-purchase of Endemol and his old pal Silvio Berlusconi might not be much support as he is probably keeping all his money for lawyers (and judges) just now.

Talk about over-estimating Britain's Got Talent and under-estimating The Voice.



EDIT: Regarding The X Factor - the problem isn't the number of genuine stars from the show, it's the whole image it portrays. Britain's Got Talent is slightly more light hearted so it doesn't get quite so much cynicism directed at it but Syco/ITV have got a lot of questions to answer regarding The X Factor's approach this year - as someone else said, does it stick to the tried and tested formula or try and freshen it up with a more 'talent based' edit.

Doesn't matter how hard you fight it, the social media side of things is basically the new 'my friends friends all watch it'

I disagree though, I think we'll see a wee bit of a burn off this week, theres going to be people watching The Voice who don't watch BGT, if it grows again its likely gaining from BGT. With more time later, less hurt from the earlier time, and no clash.
Everything seems to suggest it'll win the peak, and likely the average.

But its in the air, another terrible episode of BGT I found, so viewers may have wandered.
(then again I think the battles took a while to get into)

Trending on Twitter means sod all doesn't reflect ratings despite what The Voice Mafia say.

this stuff is starting to get boring

Its not exclusive to The Voice people mention trends, just to fill you all in. Its a long running thing, and very often we've seen shows rate very very low against strong competition (New Years Day springs to mind); and yet trend quite strongly.

Its all a mix of stuff. Best ignored and we wait for the you know rationally collected statistics in the morning

very true Twitter trending is not reflective of ratings at all, however lets not pretend that this wasn't an issue before The Voice.

Twitter and this thread, do not really mix very well.

I think they need to be really careful about the "bad acts" on X Factor this year. They still need to have them but they need to strike the right tone. They've managed it on BGT, they did not achieve it with Ceri on X Factor last year. I think the show has been changed in that regard by the audience auditions. In an empty hotel room, aspiring singers being dismissed with damning critiques wasn't such a big deal. It was common for the music industry and the show was telling the "story" of how stars were found. It takes on a different dimension when done in front of 3,000 people.

On a similar note - The Sun reports that Kelly Rowland will be paid £1.5m and Gary Barlow £2m. Tulisa and Louis have previously been reported to have had raises. Now I know it's The Sun but it seems absurd that any of them could be getting more money after last year. ITV should have had a great position from which to bargain this time. One wonders what they could have got for Cowell's salary ($10m)? Not that they'd ever take that risk.

I tend to revise down most of these wages, some of it I feel is inflated to build up a shows value in the publics eye.

I doubt there will be any significant rises, unless ITV have been stupid during negotiations and basically decided before hand that they want the same judges and are willing to pay over the odds just to stick up the same panel for the sake of sticking up the same panel.