Simon Cowell congratulates the BBC on The Voice

Simon Cowell has congratulated the BBC after The Voice UK has proven to be a hit with viewers.

Cowell was previously critical of the BBC’s decision to acquire the series and air it at the same time as Britain’s Got Talent – he accused the BBC of trying to challenge the series. The press were quick to build up a rivalry between  The Voice UK and Britain’s Got Talent which was made worse when it was revealed the two shows would clash – sparking reports of a ratings war.

However, ITV opted to move Britain’s Got Talent in its schedules to avoid a lengthy clash with The Voice – the two show’s now only clash for twenty minutes. Those twenty minutes though prove the worth of The Voice because for three weeks running it has had more viewers during the clash period than BGT and each week its overall average has increased as well narrowing the gap between it and its ITV rival.

Simon Cowell congratulated The Voice after Saturday evening’s show saw its ratings surge to 10 million viewers during the time it clashed with BGT. Cowell took to Twitter to congratulate the show writing ‘A slightly irritated congrats to Danny and the BBC’. Cowell also had praise for his own show though writing ‘I thought our team made a fantastic show last night and congrats to them as well. Loving the show this year.’

Britain’s Got Talent has still performed strongly for ITV1 so far this week – despite the period it clashes with The Voice – with Saturday evening’s shown  seen by a peak audience of 11.3 million viewers.