Saturday night fever as rival TV talent shows claim victory in ratings battle

New show The Voice was up against ITV’s big hitting Britain’s Got Talent with the shows overlapping for a crucial 20 minutes.

Viewing figures showed that BGT pulled in a peak audience of 12.2 million (including the channel’s +1 strand), representing a 49 per cent share of the viewing. The Voice’s peak was 2.4 million fewer at 9.8 million.

However, the BBC said The Voice beat BGT when the two shows overlapped, with its show averaging 8.96 million against BGT’s 6.56 million in the 20 minutes after 8pm.

ITV said the average viewing figures for BGT was 9.9 million, or a 41 per cent audience share (including the +1 channel), while The Voice opened with an 8.4 million average.

The BBC claimed this figure was over 3 million better than the opening episodes of Strictly Come Dancing, BGT and The X Factor, all of which have become Saturday night favourites.

The corporation admitted many Voice viewers switched across to watch BGT when the singing contest finished, but said the 9.3 million audience average for BGT was down from its 2011 opener.

Meanwhile, in a counter claim, ITV said the launch of BGT was the best-rated show of 2012, excluding soaps.

The scheduling of both shows was controversial in the run-up to Saturday night’s clash, with the BBC accusing its rival of trying to sabotage their launch.

The Voice sees singers take part in blind auditions, with judges Jessie J, Tom Jones, Will.i.am and Danny O’Donoghue showing their approval for an act by swinging round in their chairs to catch a first glimpse. On BGT, opera singer Jonathan Antoine, 17, stole the show after overcoming his battle against bullies.