‘Britain’s Got Talent’ premiere overtakes ‘The Voice UK’ final in the ratings

The ratings are in for Saturday night’s British TV lineup, and there was one thing that we saw through this: “Britain’s Got Talent” is far and away the country’s favorite competition show and for good reason — it’s funny and fantastic, even to the point where ITV viewers don’t mind sitting through commercials.

The tenth-season premiere of the series hosted by national treasures Ant and Dec drew in total 8.1 million viewers on average, which is a massive share of the country’s viewer base. Meanwhile, this is in comparison to the 4.5 million who watched the final episode of “The Voice UK,” where former Liberty X singer Kevin Simm emerged through the crowd and was declared the champion.

Is there some bad news here still for “Britain’s Got Talent”? Sure, given that this is the show’s lowest-rated launch ever since the very first season, but at the same time we’re not entirely sure why ITV and the BBC thought that this was going to be a great decision pitting the two shows against each other. It was clearly a terrible move for “The Voice,” but there are other problems that exist for this show beyond just it airing against the #1 competition show on British TV. There was no chemistry on the coaching panel this year, the editing was bland, and the format renders it almost impossible to get to know many of the singers taking part beyond just a few little superficial factoids here and there.

With the sixth season of “The Voice” premiering on ITV in 2017, the good news is that there are a new set of eyes looking at “The Voice,” and it is literally impossible for the two shows to be up against each other. Therefore, there’s hope for better numbers!

If you missed it, head over here to see our review right now of the “BGT” premiere! Also, sign up over here to secure some other TV news on almost everything we cover, sent right over to you via our official CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ITV.)