Simon Cowell has congratulated the BBC after The Voice claimed victory against Britain's Got Talent in the television ratings war last weekend.
The BGT supremo showed his humble side by taking to Twitter to praise the BBC1 controller Danny Cohen and the rival singing show, which averaged around 400,000 more viewers on Saturday.
An average of 9.5 million viewers watched The Voice compared to 9.1 million for BGT, according to statistics from the two broadcasters.
The BBC's new singing competition also had a bigger share of the audience at 41.1% when it aired between 7pm and 8.20pm. ITV's talent show pulled in 37.3% when it was broadcast between 8pm and 9.15pm.
In a light-hearted tweet referring to Pudsey the dancing dog that appeared on Saturday night's BGT, Cowell said: "A slightly irritated congrats to Danny and the BBC. But you didn't have a dancing dog!"
He added: "I thought our team made a fantastic show last night and congrats to them as well. Loving the show this year."
The music mogul, 52, has reportedly told BGT producers to raise their game following the ratings defeat. ITV said Saturday's BGT was watched by a peak audience of 11.9 million - 11.3 million excluding the channel's +1 strand - representing a 47% share of viewing.
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The Voice's peak was lower at 10.7 million but the BBC said it had won "by a massive margin" in the 20-minute crossover after 8pm when the two shows go head to head. During this period, The Voice averaged 10 million against 6.2 million for BGT, the corporation said.
The 10.7 million figure represents a half million increase on last week's peak.
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.
The Voice judges...
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Simon Cowell has congratulated the BBC after The Voice claimed victory against Britain's Got Talent in the television ratings war last weekend.
The BGT supremo showed his humble side by taking to T...
Simon Cowell has congratulated the BBC after The Voice claimed victory against Britain's Got Talent in the television ratings war last weekend.
The BGT supremo showed his humble side by taking to T...
The Voice is a proper contest for musicians, I've seen on more than one comment the phrase "keep music live" I can only assume by people who will only listen to music at live gigs. This is a very strange way to interact with music and would exclude recorded music in any format. However back to The Voice, the artists in the main are people who have done their apprenticeships, in pubs & clubs etc. many have been backing vocalists or worked in the lower end of the music industry. Many play musical instruments and the auditions are performed with a live backing band, and all can sing. Having said that clearly owing to nerves some have been a bit off pitch, and that's just life, some conquer nerves, others can't. So if you want to watch talented musicians compete for a chance of a recording contract, then you watch The Voice, however if you want to watch two or three half decent here today gone in half an hour “acts” with a lot of deluded exploited for their comedy value “acts” being judged by several very large egos, the watch BGT, choice is a great thing.
KeN61: The Voice is a proper contest for musicians, I've seen
The format for BGT is old hat now I love the show from when it started but over time it is the same as the show before nothing new, yet it is not just a song and dance show what has put me off is the ads too many. The voice is good but that is it they are after singers so unless you can get a dog that can sing the voice is not the show, I do like the way they seem to get more people on the stage. Two different show but if I was ask to watch one then for me The voice better fomat and no ads, not to say may daughter don`t look it up on that iplayer thing.
john5368: The format for BGT is old hat now I love
It's a bit unfair, really ... people who watch The Voice are more likely to 'hang on in there', while recording the other side, than they are to switch over. I'm one of those 'sad old bats' who enjoys both shows and that's the way I do it.
If it came to a choice, however, I'd have to choose BGT because it's by far the crazier. I DO enjoy the banter between judges, particularly since David Walliams has taken on the Great I Am, and I love the anticipation, albeit contrived, of waiting to see whether the next act will be astonishingly good or astonishingly bad!
OK, that's laid me wide open to the scorn, nay contempt, of the younger generation. I'm braced!
Wizzybar: It's a bit unfair, really ... people who watch The
BGT still the best but please Simon more acts and less time spent on the judges
It is repetitive Who wants to waste time every week watching the arrival of judges?
Lets see more acts , even the bad ones which we get to see on BGMT,
wE KNOW WE HAVE TO HAVE AD BREAKS but I for one am not interested in all the info about yourself and the other 3
I WANT TO SEE THE TALENT
The Voice BORING AND I FEAR WILL GET EVEN MORE BORING
ABOVE_AND_BEYOND: BGT still the best but please Simon more acts and
I completely agree with your comments and would just add that I think the acts on the Virgin ads before and after each commercial break are really good and ought to be on the show!!
goldensounds: I completely agree with your comments and would just add
I always loved BGT as you get a good variety of acts - not only singers, but too much time is wasted on boring chat to certain acts rather than getting on with the show.
If it was more 'quick fire' featuring more acts and less inane banter it would be much improved.
ebell411: I always loved BGT as you get a good variety
"The Voice" is rubbish.. four judges have to build a team of ten artistes. I noticed on Saturday that Tom Jones and Jessie J have almost reached their maximum, so were abstaining from picking any more, even though there were two fantastic vocalists on there. If they had chosen these two they would have had nothing else to do for the rest of the next few shows. Instesd, it was left to a mediocre out of pitch boy, who was chosen in the end. The previous two were fantastic singers, Bo Bruce and the classically trained rock singer, can't recall his name, should both have been picked, but it all boils down to ratings and point scoring for the judges. BGT is the same, it's crap and neither of these shows should be aired before midnight.. Total rubbish and a fix from start to finish..
tom_piper: "The Voice" is rubbish.. four judges have to build a
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Posted: 9/04/2012 09:17 Updated: 9/04/2012 09:20