Voice Kids final underwhelms but The Block and Baby Gammy parents interview wins Nine the night
The conclusion of Nine’s The Voice Kids failed to rock last night as only 896,000 viewers watched the finalists battle it out for the title of Australia’s youngest pop hopeful – less than half the number who tuned in for the first show back in June.
An additional 40,000 saw 10-year-old Alexa announced as the winner, but the ratings could only make them the eighth and ninth most watched programs of the night, well behind The Block Glasshouse, also on Nine, which drew 1.496 million metro viewers, one of its highest of the season and the most viewed program of the evening.
Nine’s other high profile broadcast of a heavyweight night fared less well with 60 Minutes’ interview with David and Wendy Farnell, the couple accused of abandoning their downs syndrome baby in Thailand, only just edging above one million viewers after it was broadcast in the later 9.10pm timeslot, according to OzTam overnight ratings.
Meanwhile, the first live show of the X Factor on Seven, which competed directly against The Block in the 6.30pm time slot and ran through until 9.15pm, was seen by 1.152m, making it the fourth most watched program of the night. The longer episode saw Seven postpone its Sunday Night current affairs program.
The Voice Kids finale was short-changed by the Nine Network. A regular episode of The Block was screened at 6.30 pm, when something as important as a show’s grand final should have been in that timeslot. What’s worse was The Block overran its scheduled timeslot by over 15 minutes. Because 60 Minutes started on time, it means the Voice Kids final was edited down by 15 minutes. I also think the whole audience vote is a sham. Like the adult’s Voice, an outsider won the final. Alexa was good but she is not in the same league as the other two Bella and Maddison. I hope Nine discontinue with the series – the ratings a low for a reason – viewers treated with contempt and a voting process that’s suspect.
Why does Nine put Voice Kids final at 8:45PM on a Sunday when the only 3 people in my house that wanted to watch were under 10 years of age?
Might help explain underwhelming ratings
Those shows above sclearly indicate why TV will soon be a thing of the past …
This was a good show with exceptional talent. Unfortunately the appeal was limited to parents with kids under 12 – which is just not enough for Sunday night blockbuster. Probably the only time you will ever see Channel Nine not run an ad break before announcing the winner of a major event show.
W[pe viewer voting. Some vote because of being a female, less so male, being from same state, block voting as contestant is from same school/Group. NOT BY ABILITY OF THE CONTESTANT.