The Voice to launch through Africa, Iceland

Reality music TV show The Voice is expected to have 65 local versions in the next few months, its founding production company Tapa announced.

It has sold the format rights to Iceland, Angola and the Ivory Coast, with local productions also planned for Ecuador, Azerbaijan and South Africa.

The Voice began in the Netherlands on September 17, 2010 as The Voice of Holland, and was an instant hit. It is now available in 180 territories and watched by a total of 500 million. It launched in Australia in April 2012, with The Voice Kids following a few years later.

According to Tapa, the franchise is also a social media phenomenon. It has 55 million followers on Facebook and over 10 million on Twitter. "The Voice and The Voice Kids have close to 8 billion YouTube views and over 12 million subscribers," it said.

The show continues to be a ratings hit. This year, it hit 1.6 million in Australia, won its second Emmy in the United States where one episode drew 17.3 million on the NBC Network. 2015 also it had its highest viewers’ pull in Holland in the past two years. But in the UK it had the lowest ratings for its grand final with 6.3 million after a peak of 8.5 million last year.