Post by Tony on Jan 12, 2014 18:20:46 GMT -7
Early ratings reports indicate that the third season premiere of the UK version of The Voice was the #1 program of the night, leading it's closest competition by over 4 million viewers. Additionally, the premiere is up by 2 million viewers from last year, with ratings rising from 6.2 million to 8.4 million.
Kylie Minogue helps attract 8.4 million viewers to third series of The Voice
Kylie Minogue helps attract 8.4 million viewers to third series of The Voice
Kylie Minogue's debut on The Voice helped the BBC talent show pull in 2 million more viewers than it managed last year.
The star power of the Australian singer helped the first show of the series to an average audience of 8.4 million viewers on Saturday night, well above the 6.2 million who tuned in for the opening programme in 2013.
Her debut helped The Voice triumph in the Saturday night television ratings war, with ITV's celebrity diving show Splash! managing only 3.7 million viewers, according to overnight ratings.
Minogue was one of two new faces drafted in for the third run of the BBC1 talent show, along with Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson, to replace the singers Jessie J and The Script's Danny O'Donoghue in the show's spinning chairs.
Both judges appeared to go down well with viewers, but it was Kylie, who has sold 65m albums since she sprang to fame on Australian soap Neighbours 25 years ago, who won over the critics.
"She was very funny and unpredictable. She came across really well," said Boyd Hilton, TV and reviews editor of Heat magazine. "She's so confident and everything she did seemed real. If they're too contrived it doesn't work, but she was believable."
At one point Minogue was reduced to embarrassed giggles over south London contestant Leo Ihenacho, whom she described as very easy on the eye before hiding behind her judge's chair.
"I'm blushing right now. I've fancied Charlene since I was this high," responded Leo, referring to Minogue's character in Neighbours.
Show producers went all out to sign Minogue for the third series of The Voice, where she is joined on the four-strong coaching panel by fellow singers Wilson, Tom Jones and Will.i.am.
Executives were reportedly told by Minogue's manager that the show was "not her thing" – so they flew to the US with former Black Eyed Peas rapper Will.i.am to convince the former Neighbours to star in person.
BBC bosses have brought forward The Voice for its third series, after previous runs began around Easter. The earlier launch means that the BBC has avoided a repeat of the scheduling wars that blighted its previous two series of The Voice, when it went up against Simon Cowell's ITV juggernaut Britain's Got Talent.
Saturday night's launch was level with the audience for the first series in 2012, which had a strong start, but saw figures fall sharply after the audition rounds featuring the spinning chairs.
Despite the strong start, Hilton said he expected ratings to fall off again this year as the novelty of the audition rounds gives way to the coaching stages of the competition.
He said: "I'm sure ratings will go down again because you don't get much of a connection with the contestants. With The X Factor you have the awareness of who the contestants are and, in a way, they have already become famous, but with The Voice they're often a bit dull.
"That's the problem with the format: without the spinning chairs and that element of jeopardy, it does feel like a routine talent show and I don't know how you overcome that."
The star power of the Australian singer helped the first show of the series to an average audience of 8.4 million viewers on Saturday night, well above the 6.2 million who tuned in for the opening programme in 2013.
Her debut helped The Voice triumph in the Saturday night television ratings war, with ITV's celebrity diving show Splash! managing only 3.7 million viewers, according to overnight ratings.
Minogue was one of two new faces drafted in for the third run of the BBC1 talent show, along with Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson, to replace the singers Jessie J and The Script's Danny O'Donoghue in the show's spinning chairs.
Both judges appeared to go down well with viewers, but it was Kylie, who has sold 65m albums since she sprang to fame on Australian soap Neighbours 25 years ago, who won over the critics.
"She was very funny and unpredictable. She came across really well," said Boyd Hilton, TV and reviews editor of Heat magazine. "She's so confident and everything she did seemed real. If they're too contrived it doesn't work, but she was believable."
At one point Minogue was reduced to embarrassed giggles over south London contestant Leo Ihenacho, whom she described as very easy on the eye before hiding behind her judge's chair.
"I'm blushing right now. I've fancied Charlene since I was this high," responded Leo, referring to Minogue's character in Neighbours.
Show producers went all out to sign Minogue for the third series of The Voice, where she is joined on the four-strong coaching panel by fellow singers Wilson, Tom Jones and Will.i.am.
Executives were reportedly told by Minogue's manager that the show was "not her thing" – so they flew to the US with former Black Eyed Peas rapper Will.i.am to convince the former Neighbours to star in person.
BBC bosses have brought forward The Voice for its third series, after previous runs began around Easter. The earlier launch means that the BBC has avoided a repeat of the scheduling wars that blighted its previous two series of The Voice, when it went up against Simon Cowell's ITV juggernaut Britain's Got Talent.
Saturday night's launch was level with the audience for the first series in 2012, which had a strong start, but saw figures fall sharply after the audition rounds featuring the spinning chairs.
Despite the strong start, Hilton said he expected ratings to fall off again this year as the novelty of the audition rounds gives way to the coaching stages of the competition.
He said: "I'm sure ratings will go down again because you don't get much of a connection with the contestants. With The X Factor you have the awareness of who the contestants are and, in a way, they have already become famous, but with The Voice they're often a bit dull.
"That's the problem with the format: without the spinning chairs and that element of jeopardy, it does feel like a routine talent show and I don't know how you overcome that."