Simon Cowell told the BBC to "get their sense of humour back" over the rivalry between their Saturday night talent shows Britain's Got Talent and The Voice. But Cowell may not have been smiling quite as much as the BBC1 controller, Danny Cohen, when the first audience figures came through on Sunday.
True, ITV1's Talent had a bigger overall audience than The Voice. But the ratings for the ITV1 show were down on the launch episode of last year's series despite the return of Cowell to the judging panel and the high-profile signings of David Walliams and Alesha Dixon.
And in the 20 minutes when the two shows went head to head, The Voice prevailed with an average of 8.9 million viewers against Talent's 6.6 million.
This would have particularly delighted Cohen because ITV was accused of spoiling tactics by bringing Talent forward from its traditional April launch (ITV blamed the Queen's diamond jubilee and Euro 2012).
In a game of scheduling brinkmanship the overlap between the two shows was more substantial until ITV moved Talent half an hour later at the 11th hour. Alex Graham, chief executive of The Voice's production company, Wall to Wall, tweeted: "Lucky overlap not bigger, eh?"
It is not the first time the two broadcasters have put their biggest shows head to head on a Saturday night, with ITV1's (and Cowell's) The X Factor locking horns with BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing. It is a battle The X Factor traditionally won – until last year, that is, when a rejuvenated Strictly started taking some of the ratings honours.
With the first skirmish over in what will be a three-month ratings war, all eyes will be on next Saturday's ratings to see whether The Voice was merely benefiting from viewers' curiosity about a new format, or whether it will become a serious competitor to Cowell's ratings winner.
