BGT and The Voice both claim ratings victory

Britain's Got Talent judge Simon Cowell. Credit: Reuters

ITV and the BBC both claimed victory in TV's battle of the Saturday night talent shows.

Viewing figures showed that BGT pulled in a peak audience of 12.2m (including the channel's +1 strand), representing a 49% share of the viewing. The Voice's peak was 2.4m fewer at 9.8m.

However, the BBC said The Voice beat BGT when the two shows overlapped, with its show averaging 8.96m against BGT's 6.56m in the 20 minutes after 8pm.

ITV said the launch of BGT was the best-rated show of 2012, excluding soaps.

Britain's Got Talent's audience peaked at 12.2m Credit: ITV

ITV Director of Television Peter Fincham said:

Singer Jessie J judges on The Voice. Credit: Reuters

The scheduling of both shows was controversial in the run-up to last night's clash, with the BBC accusing its rival of trying to sabotage their launch.

Relations were already strained following the loss of Alesha Dixon from the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing to join the BGT panel alongside Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and David Walliams.

On Britain's Got Talent, pop/opera duo Charlotte and Jonathan gave a ''goose-bump inducing performance''.

Responses to the shows on Twitter were mixed:

Simon Cowell sent a tweet to Jessie J, one of the judges on The Voice, controversially suggesting that she should watch his show Britain's Got Talent.