I suspect BGT will timeshit quite well given the show ran until 9.45pm. The household watched In It to Win It since they wanted to switch over to BBC 2 at 9.20pm.

It has been reported in other countries The Voice ratings start to dip once the blind auditions finish. Will be interesting how The Cube fared.

I notice Million Pound Drop finished a good 5-10 minutes early last night so I suspect that will be tape checked for 9.45-11.10pm

Really surprised at both of those. BGT being down week on week despite losing the overlap is a big disappointment for ITV, with the peak in particular way off last week (I wonder if this week's revelations have put people off watching Cowell's shows for a bit). I also expected The Voice to rise, particularly as it had an extra 10 mins at the end and no BGT overlap.

Worth noting that BGT needed early again so it'll be tapechecked. Still doesn't explain why it was so (relatively) low.

so with constant wall to wall Cowell coverage across most of the red tops, and others, constant spurts on DS about this that and the other, TVUK still was higher. ! Blimey, but TVUK was really really good last night.

Possibly. I was surprised they left in jokes about Cowell's relationships


This was my biggest surprise at first, but the gap with BGT just doesn't really fit anything we've seen over previous weeks.
I thought The Voice would win, but only by rising relatively higher!

Still, healthy ratings for a returning show, and healthy ratings for a new one!
And by healthy I mean fantastic!

Next week will be when we see if theres any downward trend for either show (The Voice tonight is too wild an animal, will people know its on Sunday? Will Sunday audience watch as well...etc. etc. - so I'd forgive any significiant or small drops)

And ITV is the BBC with ads?

Countryfile => Countrywise
The Apprentice/Dragon's Den => Tycoon

Not just the BBC that does pale imitations is it?


A few people will be paying for Dancing On Ice after that last series.


You take pot shots at BBC shows and rarely if ever give credit.


We know quite a lot about what happens in the commercial world more than we can say publicly!

Probably to try and make light of it all.


Neither rating fits in with the patterns of the last few weeks, so let's hope that last night was just a blip. And ultimately I agree, they're still fantastic figures (and BGT was still up on the same episode in 2011 and 2010).

I think both will be up next week. The Voice will be live so that will help and BGT is down to 60 mins rather than 75, so ends at 9:30pm rather than 9:45pm which should boost the average. Also things should have gone a bit quieter about Cowell's love life

I think ITV don't really see the irony here

Any figures for the big multichannel debuts last night?

The Bridge on BBC Four and Smash on Atlantic.

I'm not sure as everything seemed down

I think we can't use that here yet as The Voice is on early and when the sun arrives it will dip considerably.
The Cube had 2.6m (2.7m including +1)!!! MOTHER OF GOD!!

Both BGT and TVUK were down about -11% compared to where I expected them to be. TVUK had 10.7m last week so without the overlap and longer duration to build up its audience, I thought it would've got about 11.1m. Whilst BGT without the overlap ought to have gone up the best part of a million to about 10.5m (full-slot) compared to last week's full-slot figure of 9.6m. The gap between the two programmes is not all that different to what I thought it would've been but both are about 1.2m lower then what I was predicting - I dunno what exactly but some external factors must've affected their ratings yesterday and I wouldn't be surprised if both are back up next week.

As for The Voice peaking higher than Britain's Got Talent, I think that might become the case every week apart from the BGT final, even if BGT beats it in the averages, as long as TVUK doesn't lose a lot of momentum in the next month. BGT's highest peak so far this series was 12.2m whilst TVUK's was 12.1m when it overlapped against BGT last week. Without the overlap, TVUK will have a great opportunity to build up its audience to a big peak between 8-8.30pm which is right in the middle of primetime. BGT, starting at 8.30pm, will find it a bit more difficult to build up its audience as after 9.15pm the total TV levels will be falling and even if it peaks around 12m like previous episodes or even at 12.5m let's say, TVUK will probably be higher (close to 13m or relatively speaking compared to BGT as in last night's case) as long as it doesn't lose a lot of momentum the next few weeks. Obviously last night the peaks fell well short of those numbers but hopefully yesterday was just an anomaly and both return to at least last week's levels from next Saturday.

BGT didn't benefit as I expected from the much shorter overlap. Some disappointment certainly for ITV there.

The Voice also down but the auditions are over so it could be due to that.

What can I say about The Cube? It's dead.

It is possible to have more than one Twitter account....

Amazing how a timeslot move in one week could destory the show. It got above 4 million at 9.15pm last week

I think we all expected both shows to be up and I agree with you that other factors must have caused the dips. I do think though that as the weather gets better (hopefully!), The Voice with a 7pm start will be affected more than BGT. BGT's figure will go up with tape checked ratings but TVUK definitely got the higher peak. So much for the Cowell front page stories.

Still strong figures for both shows.

Still an excellent rating for the Voice even though it is down a little bit especially since it starts early and the battle rounds never seem to rate as high as the auditions.

Even that wasn't a great result coming out of ITV's biggest show of the week.

The Bridge appears to have had a fantastic start.
1 Million in overnights.

Both shows around 900k below where I expected, thankfully they were not on the RPG! Glad TV won easily, it might help ITV1 raise their game with the edit next week.

What wll TV get tonight? will there be more people watching tv tonight or will viewer apathy affect TV?

why should the reverse be an issue - again you seem unable to grasp that the rules shouldnt be the same for a state tax funded broadcaster versus a 100% commercial broadcaster - not sure how to explain it any simpler for you.


meaning? are you getting a bill for it? if not, this is just some irrelevant attempt at a joke?


I'm free to comment or ignore what I choose and I do. The BBC folks are very thin skinned and cant cope without a little pat on the back every day it seems!


Well if you know something say it, if its true I'm sure you can stand over it. If it isnt then its proabably libellous. Either way make you mind up!

Well there has certainly been enough opportunity for people to make up their own minds. So many front page headlines and if it was planned as a booster for Cowell, it seems to have backfired at least for a percentage.Possibly because its bored them silly. And from what I gather the acts are very samey. BGT imo is getting big finishing figures partly on its past reputation.
As for The Voice, well I find the battle rounds a bit strange, too much shouty stuff and the contestants almost singing at each other rather than in harmony. They have chosen well in limiting them imo.
The Cube, my word, I wonder if PS will be keeping away from Twitter today.

Great stuff. I was more impressed with The Bridge than the start of The Killing tbh.

Perhaps it was those leather trousers...

Interesting headline choice from DS:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s107/...tensifies.html

Shockingly low for The Cube.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s107/...mpaign=twitter
So BGT actually WAS the most watched tv programme on Saturday. So much for Hodges spin. Must be desperation that I smell coming from the BBC bunker. They wont be used to being criticised.

This is Paul Millar's spin. He's even more of an ITVista than you are...

The Voice won - at least on overnights. Get over it.

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