The final of Britain's Got Talent scored a resounding victory in the Saturday night ratings battle, pulling in almost twice as many viewers as the latest live round of The Voice. An average audience of 11.4m tuned in on Saturday night to see Ashleigh and Pudsey triumph over nearest rivals Jonathan and Charlotte, compared to just 5.6m who watched The Voice as Teams Will.i.am and Tom Jones performed once again. ITV claimed a further victory for the show in saying it was their highest-rated programme of the year so far, scoring 0.2m more viewers than a January episode of Coronation Street. The figure rose to 11.9m when taking into account those who watched on ITV+1, while the audience figures peaked at a massive 13.8m, rising to 14.5m when including ITV+1 viewers. However it was bad news for The Voice which suffered another slump in ratings after initially triumphing over BGT in its earlier stages. The revised start time - the show began at 6.10, nearly an hour earlier than normal - was also thought to have been a factor for the low ratings. "Britain's Got Talent 2012 has been an amazing series, with an incredibly high calibre of acts, culminating in a really special final," said ITV's director of television Peter Fincham. "We are delighted that viewers tuned in in their millions to watch Ashleigh and Pudsey be crowned this year's winner."
