All hit TV shows wither and miss eventually. One moment you’re Dr Who, and the next you’re Dr What? Longevity, exhaustion and changing audience tastes get you in the end. Hence the current babble about ITV buying The Voice from the BBC because The X Factor is losing its legs (rather like football babble about Man U buying Alexis Sánchez from Arsenal because Wayne Rooney is getting a bit tired). But transfer market babble is often just that. The Voice bowed out in the spring with a finals night rating of 6.3 million viewers. The X Factor results show last Sunday recorded 7.2 million.
Of course Strictly – up to 10.4 million for Sunday’s elimination – is champion stuff for the moment. And of course the tabloids seem to hate Simon Cowell (for no identifiable reason, except that he’s been super-successful). But The Voice is not Premiership stuff. It’ll be six seasons old next year, with ratings slipping already. Maybe ITV knows something we don’t and can turn it into a weekend wonder. But so far, for all the glitz, The Voice is a middle-of-the-table show commanding more top-of-the-table cash than sense.
