BGT

Despite starting off incredibly well, the BBC are now facing a huge battle to keep viewers interested in the Voice.

Originally, The Voice was winning the ratings war with ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent but all that changed once the live shows started just 3 weeks ago.

Viewers have since turned off in drones with last Sunday’s results show peaking at just 6.4 million viewers; a huge drop from the 10.8 million reached last month.

Have you switched off from The Voice?

I’ll admit I still watched the show on both days but I wasn’t giving it my whole attention and I did record the shows on sky + meaning that I watched the whole live show on Saturday in about half an hour.  Why?  Because it was oh so boring. Continue reading »

Plus Will.i.am and Danny O’Donoghue working on a track together, and The Voice cost half a million per episode!

During the press Q&A for the launch of Britain’s Got Talent yesterday, inevitably, there were lots of questions about The Voice, which is of course airing on BBC1 tomorrow night, an hour before BGT 2012 debuts…

And when asked about the rivalry between the two shows, Simon Cowell branded it “silly rivalry” adding that the whole thing has been made out to be “a battle.”

So one might be forgiven for thinking then that Simon wasn’t about to propagate said rivalry, however, he did exactly that.

He said, “Am I going to watch The Voice? I’ll probably watch about five minutes of it, not the whole thing.

“When you get to the point with your shows where you mess around with schedules and it affects the viewers when you go head-to-head that’s silly rivalry.

“They’re winding this up like it’s a battle. It’s down to being good, being successful.

“Of course you need competition but ask the BBC if we need another singing talent show.

“I would query whether we do or not.

“They don’t like the fact that X Factor is successful, they have every right to compete and we have the right to arm ourselves so we’re in a good place to beat them.”

New BGT judge David Walliams waded in and said, “Susan Boyle has sold 25 to 30million albums, that speaks for itself.”

Over to The Voice news now, and it seems Will.i.am and The Script singer Danny O’Donoghue, both of whom are of course coaches on the show, are also collaborating on tracks for Will’s next album.

The Sun reports that a show insider said, “Will and Danny are the unlikeliest of combos but they have really hit it off.

“They come from different ends of the music spectrum but that’s what Will likes about him.

“The way they’ve been going it wouldn’t surprise me if they have an entire album of stuff done by the end of the series.”

Similarly, The Voice US coaches Adam Levine – of Maroon 5 – and pop star Christina Aguilera worked together on Moves Like Jagger, so I guess Will and Danny are hoping their track does half as well.

Finally today, but staying with The Voice, the Daily Mail reports that with a price tag of £500,000 per hour-long installment, The Voice is one of the broadcaster’s biggest risks yet…

And if less than ten million of us tune in, it will be considered “an expensive disaster.”

A show source told the paper, “If it doesn’t get more than ten million viewers, as Call The Midwife did, then it’s nothing short of an expensive disaster.”

The overall cost of the show is estimated to be around £22million, and given that – as mentioned above – there’s more or less direct competition with The Voice, there are going to be some clenched sphincters at the BBC until the viewing figures are in on Sunday morning.

Bookie Ladbrokes has the following info on its website about betting on the two shows…

BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT is odds-on to average more viewers than The Voice on Saturday night according to Ladbrokes.

As both of the reality shows kick off this weekend they’ll go head to head in a Saturday night ratings war, and its heavyweight Britain’s Got Talent that’s favoured at 2/5 to win the battle.

The ITV show is quoted at even money to draw in over 10 million viewers, whereas over on the BBC it looks like The Voice will need to earn its stripes before viewing figures are taken for granted as it’s odds-on (8/11) the show will receive up to 8.5 million viewers and it’s evens that it exceeds 8.5m.

Jessie J (2/1) is the early favourite to be the winning coach, closely followed by Will.i.am (5/2) and Sir Tom Jones at 11/4 and final judge Danny O’Donaghue is the 10/3 outsider.

Jessica Bridge of Ladbrokes said: “It’s a no-brainer that loyal BGT fans will switch on for the series opener. The Voice will provide strong competition as they get to the business end of the competitions.”

Ladbrokes latest betting

Who will average the most viewers on Saturday 24th March

BGT 2/5

The Voice 7/4

How many viewers will BGT average on Saturday 24th March

Over 10 million Evens

Under 10 millions 8/11

How many viewers will The Voice average on Saturday 24th March

Over 8.5 million Evens

Under 8.5 million 8/11

Winning coach on The Voice

Jessie J 2/1

Will.i.am 5/2

Sir Tom Jones 11/4

Danny O’Donaghue 10/3

More reality TV news soon!