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Timezones make The Voice voting tough for WA, SA fans.

2 minute live voting windows on The Voice aren't very friendly for viewers in 2 states.

If you live in Western Australia or South Australia, chances are you didn’t get to choose who was eliminated in The Voice on Sunday.

This year the Nine show has made a number of changes to its audience voting for Live shows.

Voting begins at the end of the first act singing, and continues until a brief period after the final performance.

Host Sonia Kruger told viewers Tim Conlon (NSW) and Robin Johnson (Vic) received the lowest votes, before re-opening voting for 2 minutes as they sang a second time. In the end Robin Johnson was sent home.

But with WA 2 hours behind the East Coast it is unlikely many fans got to vote, especially in the decider between Conlon & Johnson. South Australian viewers, being 30 minutes behind, would have also missed out.

There is also the question of how the final act (in this case Judah Kelly from Team Delta) is afforded the same amount of voting time as the first.

Nine says the voting opens for all acts at the same time, meaning if you are a fan of a particular act you can start voting even if a performer hasn’t been seen. It also sends out notifications through social media and the Voice app (which probably amounts to a spoiler, in 2 states).

We know from previous talent shows that the overwhelming majority of votes happens in sync with a broadcast.

With WA and SA disadvantaged in the elimination voting due to timezones, that could impact 20 year old Bojesse (Team Kelly) from Western Australia when he faces a last minute vote.

A Nine spokesperson said, “After each live show, the artists songs will be up on Apple Music and iTunes to stream or purchase. Every stream / purchase gives an extra vote to that artist for the following week, ensuring the public’s favourite artists / performances are being recognised.

“So anyone in Australia can actually cast their votes for next week right now to support their favourites – or alternatively wait and see the performances before they vote.

“Everyone gets the same amount of time to vote for their favourites. The change in format is thanks to the fact that the technology makes it possible, and it mixes things up compared to previous years.”

15 Responses

  1. WA, SA (and over summer QLD) viewers thanks to the 9now live streams can sneak their way into the live broadcast. I did this all the way through the marathon that was Married at First Sight. Of course so few people will do this that it still leaves non-Eastern talent disadvantaged.

  2. I’ve never understood why SA just isn’t live – it’s just half an hour – easy to do – half hour news instead of one hour, start at 6.30. Done. Look at the US – all shows are promoted as two times (eg 9/8c) so two timezones have TV live.

    As for WA the show hardly rates there so I don’t think Nine care about them not being able to vote but there’s nothing stopping them from doing the Voice live at 5pm? Have news around it, or use a multi… or live online even for fans then play on Nine at 7…

  3. So you are only voting for the act if you like them before they sing and it doesn’t matter if they messed the whole song up they can still win? Ridiculous

    1. And that is why Robin went home instead of some of those who really messed up like Lucy & Sarah. People voted in advance for them on past performances. I don’t see why they couldn’t do a 30 min show on Monday for the results. Maybe put it at 7.30 before True Stories & The Habibs. Give Nine a more formidable lineup on Monday.

  4. It’s just typical Eastern States that they don’t want to accommodate for other states not in their timezone.

    They also don’t put any effort into saying or putting a note up in screen saying that WA and SA can’t vote.

  5. I never thought about it, but yes, that is a pain in the butt for those states, with the show having to be spoiled for you to be able to vote. I understand the reasons for doing it – filling an hour of television for a results show is difficult and costs a lot more etc. But that is a massive pain for those states. Only option to solve that would be showing it to them live…

    1. Live Reality TV in this country is a joke, they wouldn’t do it! (Unless it was sport). Too much emphasis on advertising for the nighttime audience in those states. Perhaps they could let viewers in those states live stream…..

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