‘Britain’s Got Talent’: Arisxandra Libantino, Richard & Adam’s win draws big numbers

At this point, we assume that “America’s Got Talent” would be thrilled to get the sort of numbers that the British show has, especially when you consider how strong the “Britain’s Got Talent” ratings are in proportion.

For its first live show on Monday (which is a part of a week-long event celebrating the best in British talent), the Simon Cowell competition dominated with an average viewership of 10.3 million, which is up slightly from last year. This is very impressive for any reality competition, especially when you look at how “The Voice” UK, “American Idol,” or many other competition series are completely falling to pieces.

The show Monday, which featured young singer Arisxandra Libantino and opera singers / brothers Richard & Adam reaching the live final this weekend, peaked at just over 12 million viewers. This certainly sets the bar very high for what could be a thrilling performance show Tuesday, which we’ve already mapped out in our rankings here.

As for why the “Britain’s Got Talent” ratings are so strong, we’ve managed to map it out to a few key things. For one, you have the sort of “event television” feel to it, since the performance shows all take place in one week. There’s also that element of royalty, since the winner gets the opportunity to perform at the Royal Variety in front of the Queen (who we hope will hear our pleads one day and adopt us). Finally, you have a great judging panel with comedian David Walliams ribbing Simon Cowell constantly, while Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon bring some entertainment mixed with the best in British fashion.

Are you enjoying these shows? We hope so, since we’ll have another performance-show review later in the day. For now, just click here if you want to read about the results from yesterday.

Photo: ITV