Oh dear, Im really starting to worry about GeorgeS now, these figures for ITV1 may knock him over the edge.

And the "hot" weather was certainly not widespread. it was just over 20 degrees here in the Midlands and showery all day. I doubt there were many BBQs on the go here...

A movie repeat in the middle of August?

How dare the BBC show filler for a couple of weeks until their big shows return. Lets ignore that Casualty and Total Wipeout were new. And the movie repeat got better figures than Red and Black, obviously the Beeb know what the viewing audience like more than ITV do...

I agree with this. Everything normal seems to pail into insignificance following the Olympics, maybe that is why EastEnders was low this week as well.

Wait until September, when the Olympic memories start to fade and I'm sure TXF will perform well (not that it isn't doing now compared to what the ratings would have been had TXF not started this week)

Have to laugh at certain people making excuses for XF's performance yet they are always first to have a dig at fans of other shows for using things like the heat as an excuse.

XF created their own problems this year by bringing back the same panel of judges as last year minus Kelly Rowland who made the most impact last year. They replaced her with someone who could only be described as wallpaper at best. XF lives or dies by the panel of judges it's not about the contestants at all and the current set of judges make for a dull combination.

This is linked to my question about demographic. It just seems to me that aspirational folks who know about hard work in their own lives watched X-Factor as entertainment - so naff it is good type of thing. Certainly the grey tops have been running articles about the contrast between Olympians & Cowell wannabes - the need for new role models. Are some folks doing a bit of re-evaluation? Maybe. It could be temporary or it could be more permanent.

X-Factor is running a path so incredibly close to BB it is uncanny.

Series 1 - launch show finds its feet - controversy included
Series 2 - really establishes itself - great cast
Series 3 - classic series/winner
Series 4 - real downer - poor cast/winner
Series 5 - classic series - best ever
Series 6 - momentum maintained - boring winner
Series 7 - keeps going but needs gimmicks more & more
Series 8 - momentum lost / too many changes / bland
Series 9 - ???? Should be a slight pick up before terminal decline thereon in.

I said for months that it would be bad and it's actually a bit worse than I expected. ITV have done much what Channel 4 did with Big Brother in its later years - they got lazy. It's not the first time that people have said there hasn't been much press before the launch or not many adverts etc. Or that launching in mid August is stupid. But they got away with it in the past. This year, they needed to really push the launch in a big way and they didn't. The share is perhaps something to cling onto but a show like this should be pulling in higher raw numbers. And that may have been the problem last night - it drew in the people that were watching TV as usual. But it didn't go beyond that as it often would have in the past.

The episode itself was good. It was pretty standard stuff, the new bit seems to be that they can sing their own songs which may have already delivered some positive results with the girl that closed the show last night. Nicole seems fine but disappeared for large chunks and while adequate, isn't making a huge impact. Barlow still isn't much of a replacement for Cowell. Again, ITV have seen Cowell/Cole/Minogue go and in the main, they have taken the savings rather than make a big effort with a headline name to add to the panel. Even the upcoming guest judge montage would have had most people looking at the faces and wondering "who?".


By and large, people like looking at ratings for shows they watch. Specifically shows. The US website Tvbythenumbers is dedicated to ratings and gets huge boosts on the days where they post ratings for cult shows that are at risk of cancellation.

The Olympics are just big numbers. Everyone knew it would happen - no other TV series is ever going to get a £9bn budget from the government! But they have no long term relevance. Nothing will change, be cancelled or be commissioned because of it. No channel is stronger or weaker.


Lets wait and see how much The Voice falls year on year, shall we?

And I'll eat all the Queen's hats if The Voice ever gets 10m again, let alone 12m.


First Red or Black held up better than I thought it would. Second one should have been a million higher. It's still not going to sell internationally. It'll be dumped. On the plus side, it's not doing too much damage to primetime share with those numbers. And we've seen worse around X Factor in the past.

Jonathan Ross could probably have done better with the lead-out last night but in most weeks he'd be doing no better than 4m.


Believe it or not, in 2006 X Factor was quite a big deal! And nowhere near being cancelled. Considering how TV ratings have fallen since 2006, definitely no imminent threat of that.

I would love to think your right, but you still see TOWIE slebs and the like infesting the newspapers, it's in the 'papers & chav mags interest to keep people famous who will sell every little detail to them. Sleb cultures not going anywhere I'm afraid, just been dented a little.

8.6 million is good these days, but it does seem that the love in with TXF is ending. I wonder how long, if ratings start to fall, before The Sun starts to turn on the show in the same way they fell out with BB in the later noughties.
ROB did as well as I expected with 3.6 million for the second show. In terms of production values it's well made, but it's just an awful programme and probably will go at the end of its run.
Also congratulations to Casualty for holding up well against TXF and the hot weather. 4.2 million is nothing to be ashamed of.
However, CBB just isn't happening. While I know a lot of its core audience is out clubbing, 1.5 million is a bit worrying. Yes these are decent ratings for Channel 5, but it looks like BB/CBB are only attracting the hardline fans, no one else is bothered now.

I wonder if a big thing was Cowell busy for another year. Its difficult to know whose making the decisions over X Factor, is it ITV and Cowell? One or the other? Is there a new producer taking on more roles?

Were on the outside looking it, but I'd raise the idea that theres a bit of a power vacuum and no one has filled it yet. The show meanwhile is just going on 'as is' without anyone leading/taking charge. ITV don't want to step on Cowell's turf and annoy him, Cowell is too busy with the US X Factor.

The judges returned cause...that was the automatic response. There was little change...cause that was the automatic response.

Meanwhile the advertising (I would love to know who did the BGT ads - they were genius) seems...automatic...based on the past and not advertising 'this series' but the personalities of contestants that are now gone. Which is clearer when looking at R/B's ads. No one seemed to know how to advertise this 'big Saturday' - it was automatic to stick them together, no real thought or debate.


They maybe just need to find someone to 'put in charge. I don't think its laziness, I just think the management structure may not be there. Which doesn't hold too great for the live shows, as there were some big problems with the producers last year and decisions taken.

judgement has been passed already, but they do look low, but as was said last night the show build over a series, its hardly unheard of, for it to start low.

Red or Black? better than it deserves, Ant & Dec are most likely the only thing keeping it afloat, if that is all it can do with X-Factor around, ITV should be very worried.

Nice rating for Ross however.

All this said 8 million is still good by ITV standards, just not by its own, and it represents the British public finally switching off.

BBC 1, considering what ive said about Red or Black?, Casualty looks low, which is a shame, its a staple Saturday night drama. Total Wipeout and Lottery both looking poor, even when you consider the Lottery was against X-Factor.

The fact that such an average BBC 1 schedule could hold ITV 1 back, is worrying.

Not sure quite how to view XF start figures. I doubt bosses would have wanted a sub 9 million average at the outset and it will be interesting to see next weeks figure which I think traditionally tends to be less for the second week and with the added curiosity of being a holiday weekend.
However the country is still on an Olympic wave and maybe it takes a while to develop the XF habit once again after such a grand entertainment, and I bet the Beeb are happy that SCD returns for real when the nights are really starting to draw in.
As for the overall picture, Ant and Dec, XF are seen as big hitters and the Beebs line up of a third IJ showing and the workmanlike but tired looking Lottery/Casualty combo was hardly inspiring. I cant imagine there is much champagne flowing at ITV towers yet.

Wasn't the reason that Indiana Jones 4 was on last night was that an Andy Murray tennis match over-ran a few weeks back, so Raiders Of The Lost Ark was delayed a week? (May be my memory failing me).

Interesting marketing strategy from CBS television - if enough people tweet about their favourite show, they will release pics from the new season (e.g. #unlockNCIS). Attachment contains dates and times for the new season...

http://www.cbs.com/shows/fall-previe...ock-to-unlock/

Guys - stop going on its the friggin weather, its BBQ weather, most people will be out of the house when the weather is warm, hot etc. So ratings across the board will be down. Pretty obvious. Still 8m viewers is still good for this type of 'weather' lol

A strategy taken from gaming. EA made people like facebook for trailers and in fact to unlock entirely new maps on Bad Company 2!
Once it reached like a million they released the flying monkeys

A good strategy. Facebook would make more sense than twitter though imo but a nice way to 'activate' the fans

Usual hyperbole taking over slightly, as is ever the case where TXF is concerned. Is the show past its best in ratings terms? Yes. Is it going to be canned anytime soon? No. Absolutely not.

It wasn't a great rating, and I doubt anyones too pleased with it. The shows ratings have always been about momentum though, so it depends how the next few weeks fare. The big question to me is whether the latter stages pick up that snowballing momentum again - that is the shows signature ratings trait, and it was mostly absent last year.

Red or Black is much easier to be conclusive about. It just doesn't work, and viewers were not willing to give it another shot. The final show getting an XF lead-in and still going lower than the Jonathan Ross Show after it - that sums it up. I'm sure they'll play out the series but it'll be quietly shelved then, and ITV Studios will have to try and find something else to flog overseas.

Glenn

Your post is a stark contrast to your post on the subject yesterday. Why no consistency?

CBB was always going to dip on Saturday. 1.5m inc. +1 makes it the most watched Saturday night programme on C5 in weeks, if not months. And once again it beat BBC2 and C4 (just).

The idea that Casualty held up well in comparison with only about 4m is ridiculous. It's all relative!

Having signed the 3 year deal and gone to LA, I think Cowell lost a lot of influence. That was detailed in the biography written about him earlier this year (although various publicists denied there was any huge issue with Peter Fincham). ITV have always controlled the budget in terms of "on screen talent". For example, they decided that Gary Barlow couldn't be fired.


Funnily enough, Cowell is said to have come up with the BGT ads, the OTT campness makes sense now (seems to be his new thing - he did a big XF US promo last year).

I don't think the ads were any better or worse than usual (although the BGT one was a special case in the way they did it). For the first time the kids from the show are now more famous than the judges! So maybe it does make sense!

If they'd had a big name new judge it would all have been a lot easier to create an exciting advertising campaign. But they didn't. And once again they launched in mid August and foolishly right after the Olympics. They could have made the best ads in the world and nobody would have seen them for the past 3 weeks.

The weather has played a huge part compared to last years XF launch - the weather for last year across the UK was 10c cooler than yesterday with an average of 51mins of sunshine = weather was shi*e last year hence more viewers compared with yesterdays XF launch with hot sunny spells of weather = more people are out of the house.

Steviedab

Audience SHARE was well down too so the weather gods cannot be blamed entirely.

Figures also include recordings played back before 2am.

Fair point. At the moment, I'm not really feeling it for TXF or any TV show in general. I mean, after seeing the Olympics, the reality shows just seem more fake than usual. TXF was decent yesterday but it was quite boring and drawn out in parts, the same problem that plagued BGT - the fact it was too drawn out and stretched, trying to get a 90 minute show out of 60 minutes worth of material.


TXF should have been over 40% but the shares seem similar to how it was last year - wasn't it getting similar shares in the live shows?

CBB did well. As expected, much like casualty.
Hopefully Monday-Friday sees the show grow, launching mid-week seems to really hurt momentum.


I have some sympathy here, their thinking beyond X Factor as well; plus the person I'd most want to replace him is Danni, who is likely not coming back without a pretty good pay package! (she came back I'd jump back into watching, she was a great judge and whilst Cole got the hype, I think Danni really helped ground the series at its peak and keep it focused).


Respect to him then, I was impressed he was able to laugh at himself as much as he did in them.
ITV seem to have nailed the tone of BGT, overall it was a good series as well as good promotions (and a strong finale).


One of the problems I realised was that they should have done R/B and X Factor separately. More for R/B's sake, but the fact is they had a week where they struggled to promote one of their biggest shows and an Ant and Dec fronted expensive competition show.

The kids are more famous, which is fair enough...their not involved in the auditions though. If they were the judges, that'd be awesome. But their not, the ads failed to promote the show or hype it in anyway. Meanwhile they did a mediocre quiet theme tune at the end, not the best brand awareness (for contrast, the Doctor Who ads with the DW sign TARDIS materialising, the theme tune in the background).

Overall its a few things affecting X Factor, I think people are wrong to claim its the great british public turning off, this years theres been plenty of evidence they like these sorts of shows. More just this single series might have some problems coming out the gate, and I suspect the judges (mostly Barlow) could be a problem going forwards.

No, your memory is spot-on.

Ironically, I have a sneaking feeling that the bigwigs at ITV might NOT be too disappointed with low viewing figures for X-Factor and ROB. If I was them I would be feeling a little peeved at the ridiculous power of the Cowell on their entertainment faction. If ROB had been an in-house ITV programme/idea, or a another indie's commissioned idea, there is no way it would have got a second series. However, I'm sure it was all part of the huge Cowell/ITV deal that allowed it to happen again.

I don't think it is healthy for one of the main terrestrial channels to be in such a relationship as ITV have with Cowell. Admittedly the ITV Entertainment department hasn't exactly covered itself in glory with the continous unimaginative flops that they have churned out over the last few years. But perhaps strong creative people are not attracted to a department that has this God-Like guru figure hogging most of the entertainment hours!! A little less of he Cowell love-in and more focus on getting top entertainment tv people within ITV itself might just re-inspire a channel that has in the past trailblazed the entertainment genre.....

That'll be why ITV in house has nicked Cowell's right hand woman of 9 years.