I doubt they'll be weeping over the ratings - whatever it gets it'll still be good by any standard.

I think having it over two night, and for two hours each is a bit much, and i'm a big fan of The X Factor. They should have just kept it to the one night.

We are comparing like for like because the X Factor final is always 2 programmes with the third place act being eliminated at the end of programme 1.

Plus ITV1 sold their big weekend as including the X Factor final not the X Factor final and semi-final.



Also BBC1 neatly scheduled Strictly to allow a 90 minute X Factor programme and during that 90 minutes TXF had 13.1m, just marginally down on the 13.2m for the equivalent programme last year.

ITV1 scheduled aggressively and got punished for it.

In a spirit of fairness all the coverage of TXF across the BBC should be added to ITVs share figures as these are natural ITV viewers that have been tricked into watching the BBC

In hindsight perhaps, and of course having the result tonight brings in the viewers from the start. Personally in advance of the show I thought it made sense to eliminate one person last night to give the Saturday show a bit of structure, but to be honest it didn't particularly work last night.

And of course ironically there is much less interest in who finishes 3rd than who goes home in earlier weeks as it's just a formality really. And perhaps leaking the duet stars backfired too.


I don't agree there actually - I think support is growing and growing for Olly and there is a real chance of an upset tonight. If it had been Stacey vs Joe I don't think Stacey would have had a chance in winning, but in some ways it's Olly's to lose now.

One vote costs 35p. Taking SCD’s no profit phone lines as an example, costs will account for roughly 15p of that. That leaves 20p profit per vote. Last year there were 16m votes across the entire series, so that is £3.2m profit, split between Syco, Freemantle/Talkback and ITV.

So assuming an equal split that is just over £1m for each. Not very significant really, when adverts are being sold for £250,000 each during the final. 2 mins of adverts makes the same as an entire series of voting.

I don't think the potential of a slight increase in voting revenue will affect Simon that much. If 25% of the voting is coming on the Sunday, as has been reported and lets assume that normally none of those people would normally vote on Saturdays, which is a big assumption, Simon's production will only make about £300,000 more than last year.

I would think they've lost votes for the final as well considering last night lines were only open around an hour before 3rd place was axed, compared to an hour in the show and then the hour-long break in previous years.

I doubt many votes for Joe and Olly would be cast between the two shows - the bulk of those would come tonight I'd imagine after the winners song. Still baffles me though why on earth they dropped the Sunday repeats - I certainly don't think the Saturday show would have suffered as a result. Indeed if anything, it would only serve to add viewers to the Sunday night show.

Don't worry, I'm laughing away from afar!

"TXF must have been dented by the snooker" - best thing I've ever seen posted on DS.

But I'm not crowing - not until mid-morning tomorrow at least....

I'm with you. At the time I thought it made complete sense in terms of structure but in hindsight I don't think it really worked. It only served to make last night's show seem like a semi-final rather than the grand final that it had been hyped up to be.


Have to agree. It's far more closer than people are suggesting. The fact that everyone thinks it's a foregone conclusion only makes an Olly result more likely. At least an 'upset' will inject a little bit of excitement.

Dunno if this is worth noting, but 'Elf' (which is currently on Channel 4) is 6th trending on Twitter...

And, oh the BBC are taking shots over the SPOTY issue: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_a...ar/8410045.stm

Snooker final, presumably? Is one of them a Geordie?

Quite a lot of 'Watching Elf before X Factor'.

Which is incidentally what I am doing too, despite having it on DVD.

Bodes well for Channel 4's overnights tomorrow. Mind you, the internet doesn't seem to always represent the whole country very effectively.

Elf managed 5.3m for Channel 4 in the overnights last year in a similar slot, with a further 504,000 on +1. It's a popular film and it's been scheduled brilliantly tonight so could do very well again for them.

ITV should now realise its overkill. They already shot themselves in the foot by starting at 7:30pm, when they have been familiar with the 8pm start-time for nearly all the live shows. I don't know why ITV would change this, even for a few quite rubbish Susan Boyle/Cheryl Cole shows.

They are too similar to X Factor, and that's why they're not going to be popular. Having a 12-13 million show is a good thing, but I don't think it should be leading in (or leading out) from a show which is essentially very similar.

ITV should be launching dramas. In America, the Superbowl was used for exciting new family dramas (The Wonder Years in 1988, for example). And that got mammoth figures. Why waste it on entertainment?

I think people like entertainment in smaller doses. The rule is excepted with X Factor and Britain's Got Talent because of their popularity, but generally, I don't think anyone's going to watch essentially the same show for 3 hours a night.

ITV have messed up with The X Factor. The 2 day spread worked up until around the last 6, when people got bored because of Jedward, and obviously now it shows. Noone wanted to tune into the Saturday show.

So, next year, ITV would be best, from the last 6, having the show on one day, either Saturday or Sunday, but probably Saturday, and making it far shorter:-

7pm-8:30pm X FACTOR FINAL
8:30-9:30pm FAMILY DRAMA
9:30-10pm X FACTOR FINAL RESULTS
10pm News at Ten

This year, that would've left the Royal Variety naturally on Sunday.

Going against SPOTY?, I can see the headlines now....

I love the benefit of hindsight in this thread once the ratings come in.

Pretty accurate comment I have to admit.

Sky News keep mentioning this 20m figure... you'd think these forecasts would have been re-evaluated after last night!

Is anyone watching the National grid?

Ah, I forgot about that. But perhaps, it is its perfect rival. Sport v Entertainment is usually a good match. One is male, one is female (largely)?

What are ITV supposed to do against Sports Personality? Give up...air Heartbeat .

I mean I disagree with putting X Factor there, because both shows skew young. But Royal Variety Performance will skew old as well, so I think both shows would benefit.

I've never once mentioned that it's good for X Factor to be on Sunday for the final. I haven't really said much about it. So you shouldn't blame me...

I've just noticed that The Xtra Factor end-of-auditions show is currently on ITV2+1. I'd love to know the ratings for this to see how many people choose to watch this ahead of the X Factor final.

By rights, it should have no viewers whatsoever.

SPOTY is every bit as glam and glitzy as XF and is in a huge arena. There is emotion woven into it and it looks like they have pulled out all the stops-probably is a shame that the two shows do clash.

what channel is it on?

What's The X Factor? A political debate?

SPOTY is quite a slick show and choosing to host it in an arena has created an exciting atmosphere.

It amazes me that BBC Sport have managed to produce a better entertainment-type show than the entertainment shows that are made by BBC Entertainment department .

My word, ITV are definitely taking advantage - third ad break in 35 minutes.