I guess both the late finish and the fact lines are now open throughout mean people aren't sitting through the voting recap. Like Dancing on Ice though The X Factor is now suffering from shows being longer than they need to be just to squeeze an extra ad break out, though with a 2 hour show they could cut off 10 minutes without losing a break.

XFactor shows in 2010 were just as long as this year and rated much better. I dont think the duration of the episodes can be blamed, timings could be blamed but not the actual duration.

I just checked on iPlayer and SCD was 115mins long [13 contestants] compared to XF of 94mins excluding ad breaks [11 contestants]. Both are similar lengths to each other in terms of content.

I agree, a large part of the audience for the original show will be dead now and I would imagine those that will be watching are probably over 65. As a teenager when Surprise Surprise was at its peak, no one my age watched it.

So the BBC's Saturday appears steady, no up nor down, except in shares, But wow at XFactor another hefty week-on-week and y-o-y drop, still a big show, but to beaten by an episode of Emmerdale!! I do jest, but we must accept the show will never be a mammoth again and as much as I do not like some of ITV's programming and decisions, we are lucky to have such competition and quality across both our public and commercial channels, compared to some other, larger, countries.

Well done for Merlin, it seems to be time shifting higher as well, this is no doubt going to be the highest rated series ever...

Now this is the bit I always forget, when is the official "primetime" because I can't work out who will have won, based on the ratings so far... Probably BBC One, but I think ITV won last week?

TXF hasn't been bad this season, and I applaud their decision to let singers play their own material, it's maybe everyone judges it by the enormous ratings of three years ago. The show is entering its twilight years now, but there is little else, barring BGT, that can come near it on ITV.

I was watching the Media Guardian Edinbugh Festival video and the XFactor producer said that the show is a "brand" and that in the future they can completely change the format and what the show is about. What I took that to mean is that under the XFactor name, they could change the show from what has been a singing competition to something else - a dancing competition or a mixture of singing/dancing or having celebrities as contestants. Using the brand name to have a completely different format instead of Itv launching a new show with a new name which would unlikely start with good ratings.

Do you think it would work if Itv used the XFactor brand to change the format completely? Like getting rid of the open auditions, having a dance type competition or singers learning a different trade? Would this work, just turning the show completely on its head and a different direction under the same using the XFactor brand name?

An interesting one, SW, but maybe what would work, and something which they are doing this series, is to have musicians perform their own material.

9.9 for Strictly and 8.6 for X-Factor, tells the story all by itself.

Yes X-Factors ratings are still high, BUT its fallen 1.3 behind Strictly and is down year on year, ITV & Syco need to be very concerned, this year is not the start of the the general public, waking up and giving up on the show completely.

Cant see Surprise Surprise being a hit either.

I would like to comment on other ratings, but there are none.

Sounds like a good way to kill the programme off once and for all. How many dance type competitions have BBC1 screened over the last few years? Plenty and none of been particularly successful.


Well, it's not really working then, looking at the stagnant ratings. Sounds a bit Fame Academy, another BBC1 series than didn't quite hit the spot.

Distinct chance that Strictly's overnights for last night will be higher than X Factor's consolidated including +1.

Owch, that's gonna hurt!

As I've said, TXF is entering its twilight years now. I would like to see it quit while it's still ahead, than endure a slow death like Blind Date did.
I can't see Suprise Surprise doing much as the audience it appealed to has largely died out. It would be the same as ITV reviving Harry Secombe's Highway, which often preceded Suprrise Surprise.

something is going to have to give. When the season ends, no way ITV can just sit back, and say that those are good ratings compared to the rest of the schedule.


I tend to agree, if ratings fall again next year it should end, before it becomes a national joke, rather than just a DS Ratings Thread joke.

Thank you.

I'd love to know The X Factor's share. Strictly Come Dancing's share suggests less people were watching television last night and the older generation are more likely to stay in and watch TV compared to the younger generation. If that is the case I fear for The X Factor's figures over the next couple of weeks when Halloween and Bonfire Night kick in - we could see below 8m even including +1 at the rate it's going.

To be honest, The X Factor's figures are getting to the point where ITV wouldn't lose out by throwing the entire show out on Sunday's. I know this seems a strange comment considering I've been calling for Dancing On Ice to be split across the weekend but in both cases there are signs of decline and part of this is due to the increased opposition from BBC One (Strictly Come Dancing moving later; the emergence of Call The Midwife). Move the shows away from the opposition and I think they will at the very least halt the decline and potentially see some growth.

ITV could air The X Factor between 6.30pm and 8.30pm on Sunday (Strictly claimed 9.9m in a similar slot yesterday) followed by Downton Abbey with the results between 9.30pm and 10pm. BBC One could either keep the Strictly results in the same slot (which would be swallowed up by The X Factor's first show), move it earlier (5.50-6.30), move it to get a headstart on The X Factor (6.20-7) - though considering the pre-recorded result show isn't as popular as the performance show this may be a risk - or move it back to Saturday with the lack of The X Factor in the later slot.

As for ITV; filling the X Factor void on Saturday's won't be easy. However, if they went with established shows they should be ok - 5.30 You've Been Framed; 6.00 The Chase; 7.00 Family Fortunes; 7.45 Saturday Night Takeaway (replaced by Take Me Out in mid-November when I'm A Celebrity... starts); 9.00 Benidorm; 10.00 The Jonathan Ross Show. Would the ratings be in the 4m range for most of the evening? Yes; but the channel wouldn't disgrace itself.

I know arguments against this may include ITV using the show to prop up a night but, frankly, what is The X Factor propping up exactly? And it may be time for ITV to sacrifice nights in order to give their ailing big hitters - which they're still reliant on - some help.

Back to last night and Strictly and Merlin performed well once again though no sign of growth. The latter surprises me considering the decline of it's main opposition though maybe the loss of bum of seats, as alluded to above, is behind this.

May have missed it somewhere, but do we know what the figure was for TXF without +1?

Regarding Strictly and TXF's scheduling, I think you could make arguments for both sides of whether or not they should clash, really. The obvious con of avoiding a clash means that Strictly and TXF start too early and finish too late respectively, damaging their ratings potential - but there is a major pro in that not only do both of them have a clear playing field, the two also inherit each other's audience.... TXF fans probably watch SCD while waiting for TXF to start, and SCD fans may well migrate to TXF, seeing as they all need to find something else to watch right as TXF's starting, given the virtually synchronised scheduling.

Personally, I think the current scheduling is a far better plan than a clash, which would essentially be out of the frying pan, into the fire,and could well kill of TXF completely.

The X Factor averaged 3.6m for the final five minutes last night - I think it's being killed where it is, to be honest.

As John Cleese said about Fawlty Towers, he knew he couldn't better the second series and quit while he was ahead. I think if TXF shows another decline next year, it should go rather than linger on like BB. You'll know when TXF goes Pete Tong when The Sun gives it a good kicking every week.

The final 5 minutes is all recap and adverts, it's not a fair judgement to make on the success of the scheduling as a whole.

if X-Factors final few minutes is anything like Strictly then its not really worth commenting on.

Looking on wikipedia X-Factor has another 7 weeks to go, god help it, if it continues to fall. A low rated finale is the last thing it needs.

Ratings are in short supply this Sunday. Oh, for the days of a full update on Sunday mornings at 9.35am.
I hope no one is, because the Ratings Thread standard issue y-fronts supply ran out after the 2009 final.

Budgets cuts introduced in May 2010, mean we only have a plastic bowl and a box of Persil.

well if we didnt spend all our budget on those premium range Swiss stop watches, we might have money left over for that kind of thing.

If BBC One ran to time on Christmas Day we wouldn't need the stop watches!!!

Strictly still doing well with 9.9 million. I think this could run for years with the right contestants.

I was going to suggest (but not entirely seriously) that if X Factor rates higher on a Sunday than on a Saturday maybe ITV should move the performance show to Sunday and the results show to a weekday slot. I would suggest Wednesdays at 8pm. On a Monday the pre-watershed soaps means the results could only be scheduled at 9pm, which feels too late. X Factor results could provide a much needed boost to Tuesdays but Champions League gets in the way here. So that's leave Wednesdays at 8pm which would have a soap hour lead-in.

XF should at heart be a serious talent search, but its best ratings have been when its been a giant pantomime with Cowell and Louis Walsh as the ugly sisters. Gary Barlow trumpeting that he wants an end to the buffoonery of previous years may be worthy but there are two or three million viewers that tuned in because of it and the performance show especially must be too banal for many casual viewers to bother with. Its only the results shows cherry picked schedule and actual moment of drama that is keeping the flag flying to a certain extent. If it was still on Satudays we would probably be looking at DOI style figures.

The performance show is on too late, but ITV is running scared of any significant overlap with Strictly.

ITV must ditch the panel and move heaven and earth to get Cowell/Cole/Minogue back on board. Clearly if it carries on as it is audiences will continue to fragment.