The Voice suffers all time low ratings despite BGT-prompted move to Friday nights

Results show averages just 3.91m viewers

Leanne Jarvis, right, with Holly Willoughby and Cleo Higgins after their performance during episode 11 of the BBC reality show (PA)

The BBC talent show The Voice fell to its lowest-ever ratings last night, according to early audience data.

Despite moving into a Friday night slot after being crushed by Britain’s Got Talent on consecutive Saturdays, the singing contest attracted just 4.21m viewers last night for its first live show.

The results show averaged just 3.91m viewers, according to Digital Spy, accounting for less than a fifth of the overall TV audience across all channels.

In March, the second series launched with 6.2m, suffering a narrow defeat to Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV.

When the show first arrived on British screens last year, 8.43m viewers were intrigued by the spinning chair auditions. Since then, the audience has halved but the BBC nevertheless renewed the show for a third series.

Last year’s winner, Leanne Mitchell, sold just 895 copies of her debut album in its first week on sale.

Today, judge Danny O’Donoghue said the singer hadn’t worked hard enough to promote the record, telling The Sun: “That’s not my fault, that’s not the show’s fault, that’s not the BBC’s fault, that’s just her fault.

“You can take an artist like that and question their work ethic.”