7 million viewers for Voice finale

More than seven million viewers tuned in to see Leanne Mitchell win The Voice.

Although it was more than two million up on the semi-finals, the show had almost five million fewer viewers than the final of rival series Britain's Got Talent last month.

The series had been pulling in as many as 10 million viewers during its earlier stages and had beaten ITV1's BGT on a number of occasions when they were both being screened. But it went on to have a ratings collapse and sunk to a low of 4.5 million last week for the semis.

Saturday night's two-hour finale to the series pulled in an average audience of 7.1 million, and was the highest rated programme of the day.

Programme bosses have conceded that they need to make changes to the format to keep viewers interested, after popularity waned following the audition stage.