The Voice Australia draws 2.155M viewers

The first episode of The Voice Australia season three saw 2.155 million metro viewers tune in to Channel Nine last night, a 327,000+ increase in viewership on 2013’s first episode but a 22,000 approximate decrease on the first episode of season one.

According to preliminary overnight ratings, the first episode numbers beat out Channel Seven’s renovation game show House Rules, which premiered its latest season to 1.2 million viewers on Wednesday.

The big draw card for The Voice Australia this time around is the inclusion of new Grammy-winning coaches Kylie Minogue and will.i.am, who were announced to replace Seal and Delta Goodrem last November.

Goodrem has been placed as a coach on the enterprise’s new show The Voice Kids (for the 8 to 14 age bracket) with fellow season one and two host Joel Madden, while Seal is said to be working on a new record.

Joel Madden also continues his post as voice coach on the adults version this season; the Good Charlotte member took out a Logie Award last year for Most Popular New Male Talent, while the show won the Most Outstanding Light Entertainment Program Logie.

Both Minogue and will.i.am have just finished stints on the UK version of the show. Minogue was credited for helping to increase the show’s ratings: it’s February 1 screening drew 8.5 million viewers and gave BBC a 36.6% audience share.

Despite its viewership decrease last year, The Voice Australia was the most-watched television series in 2013, with an average audience of more than two million every Sunday and Tuesday night.