Hmm...probably not. Because although SCD iPlayer views is probably higher than X Factor's, X Factor is repeated across the week on ITV1 Daytime and ITV2 whereas SCD doesn't have any other TV repeats. So if anything, in the total weekly reaches, the gap is probably wider.

The X Factor discussion seems a little over the top. It is still the number one rated show. I can see that is a little bit disappointing in the context of last year but as someone already said it is a bit like comparing it to the Susan Boyle year on BGT (or over on the Doctor Who forum there has been quite a lot of discussion of how the last couple of series cant be compared to series four which had a perfect storm around it.) I think last years X Factor did as well - the Gamu contraversy, Cheryl`s maleria, Cowell/Cole bickering, Katie and Cher etc.

And I always question whether repeat views are all by different viewers. If they're not they shouldn't be included. That's why BARB stopped adding a soap's repeat rating to its first showing.

So no improvement at all for TXF this week after all the press this week. They say, there's no such thing as bad press, but maybe there is?! I was expecting to see a figure of at least 10.5m today so its disappointing to see a figure under 10m again (although 10.1m inc. +1). The show wasn't great last night to be honest. It was supposed to be Rock Week and there was nothing rocky about it, and the judges were all over the place. At the start, everyone said how well the new panel works, but now things seem to be falling apart. Maybe its because the earlier stages are pre-recorded and possibly scripted, and can be edited accordingly? But there's nothing that can be done when its live. Dermot is doing a good job holding the show together at the moment. The results show should do fine again tonight with a similar figure to last week I imagine. As for Cowell returning - this won't be happening this series, except maybe for the final. He's not going to be flying backwards and forwards every week when he's got TXF USA to concentrate on.

Got to disagree with a few things here. First Louis is a pain - we all know that, but hes OUR pain . Plus his acts are actually the most interesting this year. Producers will never get rid of him cause whilst hes a pain - hes a pain who understands putting on a show more than any of the other judges.

Plus they got rid of him before

I can't see Cheryl returning - I think that part of her life is done now. Shes moved on and probably not looking to work with Simon again who in the end is still in charge of the show.

Tulisa for me is working a hell of a lot more than Kelly is - whose very very stuck up. Tulisa/Louis seem to be the only rational judges - even if Tulisa needs wayy more music experience than she currently has.
Kelly overall is a right flop and without edits in there to hide her (she seemed very personalityless in the auditions stages and the judges house tbh) shes now seeming a bit over-bearing and aggressive.

I'd keep Louis/Tulisa and look for two more, but also possibly looking at downsizing the panel and going back to 3 judges - with maybe each judge taking a 'group' each.


Yep plus I don't think the iplayer is huge as timeshift isn't either for Strictly. It'll do decent but nothing outstanding.

The 11.0m figure for Strictly and 11.5m figure for The X Factor, must be 5-minute peaks, because for the 15-minute peaks, Strictly beat The X Factor with 10.48m (41.36%) at 19:45 versus 10.37m (40.13%) at 20:45.

Wow it's getting closer and closer. will next week be the week that strictly beats X Factor on average.

That's what I was thinking when I read that. Not usual that you see The X Factor with a smaller 15 minute peak than another show on the same night.

Yeah you got that in as I was editing the same thought into my post. I had originally forgotten that ITV repeat The X Factor throughout the week. I do wonder if we'll see Strictly get daytime repeats next year as part of DQF.

And here's the 15-minute breakdowns, including HD, excluding +1:

BBC1 vs ITV1
18:00 - 4.50m (24.1%) vs 3.70m (19.8%)
18:15 - 5.96m (29.4%) vs 3.61m (17.8%)
18:30 - 8.20m (36.5%) vs 3.55m (15.7%)
18:45 - 9.14m (38.9%) vs 3.80m (16.3%)
19:00 - 9.52m (39.5%) vs 4.32m (17.9%)
19:15 - 9.94m (40.6%) vs 4.19m (17.1%)
19:30 - 10.23m (40.7%) vs 4.51m (18.0%)
19:45 - 10.48m (41.4%) vs 4.85m (19.2%)
20:00 - 9.48m (35.3%) vs 8.2m (30.8%)
20:15 - 5.68m (22.0%) vs 10.01m (38.7%)
20:30 - 5.37m (20.8%) vs 9.98m (38.7%)
20:45 - 5.51m (21.3%) vs 10.37m (40.1%)
21:00 - 4.14m (16.2%) vs 10.31m (40.2%)
21:15 - 4.21m (16.5%) vs 10.02m (39.2%)
21:30 - 4.28m (16.9%) vs 9.97m (39.4%)
21:45 - 4.19m (17.8%) vs 7.39m (31.4%)
22:00 - 3.99m (18.6%) vs 3.69m (17.1%)

And last week's official rating for Merlin was a fantastic 7.04m (25.1%).

Strictly is doing well to continue to build week-on-week - up 400k. It does seem to have some momentum going on. However the share appears to be 0.5 lower than last week. Casualty again benefited from the Merlin lead-in, although not to the same extent as last week. The Celebrity Masterchef final did poorly, although I guess if viewed purely as a rating then 3.87m is quite respectable at 5:25pm.


TV Burp seems to have done much better this week than last week. Jonathan Ross still looks poor given the lead-in. Will Piers Morgan still be allowed to boast he gets higher ratings than JR, now that they are on the same network?

Again, the TXF looks quite poor compared to recent years, and clearly it is at the stage where it should be looking to build week-on-week now. Compared to last week (exc +1) it is down 40k (forty) on last week's tape checked Saturday episode and up 170k compared to the full slot rating. This week's rating will not have been tape checked as it ran the full slot. However, this week's lower rating on +1 negates the small rise in the full slot rating.


Remember when comparing ratings for any show with pre January 2010 you need to knock off 4% to account for the change in BARB system at that time. That goes for everything TXF, SCD, soaps etc. So last night's TXF rating would be 9.38m and SCD's rating would be 9.07m in pre 2010 terms.


On another note, I noticed some discussion a few days back on The Simpons possibly ending in 2 years time on FOX. Would Comedy Central be able to pick it up like with Futurama or would there be some legalities preventing that?

That's another way to look at it I suppose. I did like Tulisa at first but she's been disapointing on the live shows - although not helped by landing the groups. I think the fact Kelly got the strongest category says everything you need to know about how the producers feel about her. Louis should have gone too really and I wonder if he would have done if it hadn't been for the non-scandal earlier in the year and Cowell needed to show him support - but on the flipside there isn't an obvious list of names willing and able to replace him.

I also wonder how Matt Cardle slagging the show off the last couple of weeks might have affected perceptions - what's the point in getting into a series and voting when the winner ultimately is going to try and distance themselves from it completely. Although last years final 4 were relatively strong, ultimately it's failure to find the breakout stars they promise is surely going to be the death of it.

I don't know about the legalities (though nothing that couldn't be overcome I'd imagine) but for something like The Simpsons I wonder whether it would be worth picking up and making new episodes rather than just picking up the rights to old episodes instead.

People forget that a ratings fall does not mean that those still watching are happy bunnies.

Some people will carry on watching a show even when they don't think it's that good anymore.

9.7m for a show which is well liked is one thing, 9.7m for a show that (perhaps) half the viewing audience think is pants is quite another.

In a situation like that peoples loyalties can surely switch in an instant, to perhaps the BBCs Voice?

I think this sums up part of the problem with the show this year each judge seems to be judging a completely different show. There's no cohesive idea as to whether the show is an entertainment show or a singing contest and it cases some very jarring moments throughout the show.

On the subject of Louis I think not replacing him this year was a mistake. He sticks out like sore thumb when your marketing campaign is 'the new generation'. I think they can easily find someone who fills a similar role to him (aka: the public face to the production teams desire for joke acts) but sticking with him is odd. And if they're going to stick with Barlow it is essential they add a male judge with some personality to the mix next year and that means ditching Louis.


Cheryl has no career without The X Factor. She'll be back (and if she's not back on X Factor she'll be on BGT instead).


I completely disagree on Kelly Rowland. Whilst I'm not sure I like her she's the only interesting member of the panel because she's the only one with any kind of charisma or personality. As I said earlier the fact that she's surrounded by personality blackholes does her no favours though,

It reminds me a bit of X Factor 2007, some changes made which didn't appear to be working out too well. The y-o-y declines are now starting to become an issue but I'd say the bigger issue is that people doing the 10%/20% declines for future weeks are still coming up with numbers higher than the ones just now and there's just no sign of growth.

I think Cowell would have been planning returning for a week late in the series (to effectively do what Clive Davis used to do on Idol). I could maybe see that being brought forward, but not for a while. Next weekend he'll be preparing for the US live shows. The following weekend is Bonfire night which is going to rate awfully anyway so there's no point. "Cowell vs Barlow" might have some value when it does happen.

In terms of the press during the week, I don't think it's ever too helpful to have a show seen to be failing. And we've seen in the past that the best "controversy" is for something that's actually happening on the show. This thing with Misha B seems to be the best chance they have for the meantime (Kitty becoming a serious contender could be a story later in the series). I think the talent is pretty poor, tbh. Idol possibly had a similar situation with the judges - people felt they were great at the auditions but not so great on the live shows. But the talent was good enough that the ratings remained very strong and grew towards the final.

In terms of judges, I think Nicole will replace Kelly next series (thus getting her off the US show as well). Kelly's just up irritating now (she's loud, yes, but it's just not working for me). Gary will probably leave (before he gets pushed). Tulisa might survive but only if Cheryl isn't willing to return. I can't see Cowell returning on a permanent basis - X Factor USA is at just the kind of level where I can see him getting totally immersed in trying to build that over the next few years as he did with X Factor UK in its early days.

Even though the rating is still brilliant, will X Factor start declining fast now? It reminds of Big Brother in terms of ratings. XF is in its 8th series, which is the series of BB where it started declining. Also in terms of winners, it follows BB gender wise.

Gender of winner for both BB and XF:
Male, Male, Female, Male, Female, Male, Male, Male... to follow the same pattern, a male will win TXF this year (The Risk), and next year there will be a female winner, Mark my words

In theory they could but they won't.

Generally speaking any show that is cancelled or ends could be picked up by another network but they basically never are. Usually its an issue of cost (particularly when moving broadcast shows to cable) or simply the fact that a show was cancelled for a reason. Of course for that to happen the production company has to be willing to play ball with a new network to keep the show going. Last year for example Universal leveraged the fact that other networks were interested in House to get Fox to pay a licensing deal they weren't happy with. When it comes to The Simpsons the production company won't be interested in keeping the show going for various reasons.


There are no legal issues that would stop them from doing it. What will stop them from doing it is that the decision to end the show isn't coming from Fox the network but Fox the production company. They don't want to continue making new episodes of the show because it costs too much and they can make a lot more from the show when it ends as series than they are now.

I imagine that when The Simpsons ends as a regular series we'll see more movies though and I wouldn't be hugely surprised if they produced occasional television specials (particularly the Treehouse of Horror specials). Fox will want to keep the brand out there to drive merchandise sales.

If they're going to ship Nicole over to the UK version next year they should go all out to make sure Cheryl returns as well. The press can have a field day with Nicole vs. Cheryl stories after everything that's happened this year.

I might also suggest moving Kelly to the US version (perhaps in a straight swap with Nicole). It feels like she'd go down much better in the US. In fact maybe they should just do that when Nicole performs on the UK show? Just announce that her and Kelly are switching places. It would inject some life into the US show and Nicole seemed to go down well with UK viewers last year. Certainly much better than she's gone down in the US.

that IS worrying, we dot normally see X-Factor go down over its run, infact it normally goes up.

All this talk of press articles, and contestants behaving bad, is something I find amusing, given that its Rock Week, if X-Factor wants them to do a Rock Week, why then complain when they behave like Rock Stars.


that kinda makes my point

Anwyays if fans are finding the show contrived and faked, well may I be the first to welcome them to the real world, apparently it took a new judging line up, for them to see what the rest of us saw years ago.

All that said, I am (along with some others) very good at making out X-Factor has a ratings problem, so some balance.

When you include +1 its still be watched by 10 million people, and Strictly always out preforms what people give it credit for.

The good news is that the blame can be put on the new line up, and even just bringing back Cheryl Cole will give many reason to return.

As ratings stand, ITV can still turn this season around, and we should not get over excited about its ratings drop just yet.

Wonderful! Series 3 didn't reach 7m until episode 10.

I Agree there is no sign of growth. In fact its going down not up. Thing is when is this growth going to happen.

god the Tories really are hopeless at creating conditions for growth, if even X-Factor is starting to loose viewers.

Too political?

Surprised to see another poor performance for TXF - I felt that without a substantial clash, it was sure to find a decent increase this week. Thats going to be worrying for ITV, no doubt about it. A 10% y-o-y drop is manageable (and was probably what they imagined when the panel shuffling went on earlier in the year), but a 17% drop feels far more threatening. What's particularly strange is the way it's lost momentum from the non-live shows. In 7 seasons, I'm not sure that that's happened before? No doubt the press will get dizzy about Cowell, but I think AlexiR is spot on. He's got his own problems across the pond. Don't expect him back till the finals.

Strictly did brilliantly once again and manages to be slightly up year-on-year. It's going to be difficult to keep up the comparison as 2010's series really took off right about now with the whole Widdecombe saga. It doesn't really look like they've anything to match that this year - as entertaining as the show in general is.

In terms of the other shows last night - Merlin and Casualty slightly down but still much better in that scheduling configuration so I hope the BBC stick with it. Harry Hill looks tired on ITV, which isn't helping their evening.


I totally agree - I don't think it's got a hope of 10m to begin with. I was guilty of getting caught up thinking hype along could propel Red or Black back in September, and was totally wrong. In the circumstances, I think 6m is the minimum standard and anything in the sort of 8m region would probably be considered a triumph. Those sorts of figures would still make it the best major entertainment series since Strictly (which says a lot about BBC LE!).

It's also worth noting that despite a pretty perfect launch series in the States - where the format felt incredibly fresh next to the ancient Idol - in terms of total viewers it was still way behind both Idol and Dancing with the Stars. The Voice was generally in the 11-12m region - both of the other shows regularly hit 20m. It's success was in skewing very young, and I've many doubts it'll manage that on middle-England BBC One. That other young-skewing American talent show, SYTYCD? certainly didn't!

Launching in January would certainly have been preferable, but the BBC seem to have something of an obsession with 'Spring', trying (and failing) to launch a big Saturday line up from early-April every year. Hopefully with live stages in April-May as C.M.W hints, they're looking to finish before the BGT Week, Eurovision and Champions League madness hits. So depending on episode orders, perhaps a late February or early March start. Which would fit with six ordered episodes of The Magicians running from the beginning of the year. I don't think the Six Nations schedule is very problematic this year (only nighttime game is France v Ireland, which will be BBC2, and everything else is over by 7pm). I don't know where it might leave Let's Dance, but frankly, a daft four week comedy-entertainment show is not a priority in comparison. They could have a go midweek. Nothing to lose, really.

My word-an astonishing result in the football should ensure a decent audience for MOTD2 tonight.