TV Wrap: The Voice wins launch battle against The Block after Seven’s best week this year
The Seven Network successfully tapped into the final day of its Tokyo 2020 Olympics coverage to launch the 2021 season of The Voice, with the program winning the night in entertainment and coming in only behind Seven News overall.
The Voice had 1.329 million metro viewers for its launch episode, taking place before the Olympics Closing Ceremony, which brought in 1.291 million metro viewers, topping all three key advertising demos in the process.
Season ten of The Voice is airing on Seven after the network nabbed the program from Nine, and Sunday’s premiere was up on the last two season launches, each bringing in 1.012 million metro viewers, the equal lowest premieres for the program to date.
Olivia Vasquez is sorry not sorry for this spectacular performance! 😎🎤 #TheVoiceAU pic.twitter.com/W1Rh88h3L6
— The Voice Australia (@TheVoiceAU) August 8, 2021
Of the launch numbers, which were the biggest across metro markets since 2016, Seven Network director of programming, Angus Ross, said: “We’re very happy see the all-new The Voice hit the right note with viewers on its new home. It’s an incredible season full of star power and we’re looking forward to Australia meeting the next wave of homegrown artists ready to take on the world.
“Last night’s numbers on Seven and 7plus exceeded our expectations, proving Seven has plenty more of what the nation wants after the Tokyo Olympics – high-quality, engaging content available wherever they wish to see it.”
In primetime, Nine aired the 2021 launch of The Block, with the show’s 17th series taking place in affluent Melbourne suburb Hampton. It brought in 747,000 metro viewers.
The program has failed to crack the million metro viewer mark for a launch episode since 2018 when it brought in 1.163 million. 2019’s launch had 991,000 metro viewers, and 900,000 tuned in last year.
Meanwhile, Australian Survivor had 609,000 metro viewers for Ten.
Seven’s final day of the Olympics wrapped up with a variety of velodrome cycling events and the men’s marathon. The Afternoon session had 763,000 metro viewers, while the Morning session brought in 671,000 metro viewers.
Seven won Sunday with a 43.7% network share, ahead of Nine’s 23.9%, Ten’s 15.6% and ABC’s 10.2%.
Sunday’s results followed another big week for Seven, with the network taking a whopping 53.0% share for the week ending August 7. Nine had 18.8%, Ten had 12.7% and ABC had 10.8%.
The Olympics helped Seven to its biggest weekly share in 2021 so far, with the network now having won 13 of the 24 survey weeks so far in 2021.
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Zanda Wilson was a reporter and podcast producer at Mumbrella, specialising in radio reporting. He left Mumbrella in September 2021.
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