I take part in focus group surveys for American television shows and I received a request today to take a survey on X Factor judges. I assume that this survey will be used to help Simon make his final decision on the judging lineup.

The survey first showed a list of people and I had to identify which of them I knew who they were. Cheryl Cole was not listed! The people were:

LA Reid
Celine Dion
Billy Joel
Kelly Clarkson
Simon Cowell
Adam Lambert
Kelly Rowland
Paulina Rubio
Demi Lovato
Carrie Underwood
Harry Connick Jr.
Kara DioGuardi
Paula Abdul
Will.i.am
Justin Timberlake
Randy Jackson

The funny thing is that some of these people have been identified as possible judges for the next season of American Idol.

Nevertheless, the next set of questions involved choosing answers about how suitable Simon, Demi, Paula, Randy, Kelly, LA Reid, Kara, and Paulina were on being judges.

The final set of questions involved rating THREE possible judging lineups.

The different combinations were:

1.) Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Demi Lovato

2.) Simon Cowell, Kelly Rowland, Paulina Rubio, and Demi Lovato

3.) Simon Cowell, LA Reid, Kara DioGuardi, and Demi Lovato

I find it interesting that LA Reid is possibly still in the mix even though he decided to leave already. The second lineup confirms recent rumors that we've heard about a judging lineup with Simon and three woman.

What do you guys think is the best lineup?

Also, if you take out the people from the first list that are in contention you get:

Celine Dion
Billy Joel
Kelly Clarkson
Adam Lambert
Carrie Underwood
Harry Connick Jr.
Will.i.am
Justin Timberlake

Which means that these people are possibly in the running to be on American Idol next season.

Was this official?

Did this survey come from Fox though? I highly doubt they are going to do a survey, compile the results and hire the remaining judges with only four days to go before the auditions start.

Yes, it was sent out by an official market research company used by the entertainment industry. They've sent me surveys on X Factor and Idol in the past as well.

What is the name of the official market research company?

Paula was hired on THE DAY of the first auditions in season 1.

If you choose to believe that, personally I think it was more to do with building hype.

Please post a link to the survey!!

Bull***t
It was kept a secret to maximise the drama. She definitely knew before that

I reckon judges are already in place for this season too!

so neither is hilary in the running......

The link that I have no longer works since I already took the survey. I wish I could go back and take screenshots!

You cannot take the survey unless you are a member of the survey group. I think I got on the list in the past because I took a survey for X Factor that was posted on the official site before they chose judges for the first season and they asked me to take part in future surveys by becoming a member.

They do have a prize drawing for taking part in the survey. Here is a link to the rules: https://panelinfo.ipsos.com/project/...S_MAY_2013.htm. You can see that XFactorJudges are in the link address. The survey ends this Sunday, which would mean that they could use the data on Monday to make a decision before the auditions start on Tuesday.

....and hire someone on THE day?

I assume that discussions have been in place with all of these people already and once a final decision is made on the panel, a deal can be finalized with each judge. If a deal with one can't be made, they at least have others waiting. Simon always waits until the last minute to make these decisions.

Clearly...

I find it odd, really. This poll is like a cry for desperation. The second question on who would we like to see in a lineup best is really desperate! I also doubt that they'd hire Kara DioGuardi and Harry Cornick ( who happens to be the guy people are rooting for in Idol). There are many flaws in this poll IMO. Some of the names are lazy rip offs of Idol. And I Will.I.Am is considered, why not Cheryl? If this was for IDOL, I would've completely believed. And where are the names such as Duff, Faith Hill, Love Hewitt ++ if Paulina's up there then these names might have had the same chance as well. If this were true then FOX just showed The X Factor and Idol's instability.

Also, if this also happened to IDOL, the biggest competition in the US, then why aren't there no leakages like this to be posted online? Clearly, IDOL's a bigger show who's panel the media would love to get an info firsthand.

I am not hating but I just find this unbelievable. No offense.

Chances are the answers are in there but with names like DioGuardi thrown in so as it isn't entirely obvious what they're thinking. They'll have the deals in place, just needing to be signed once Simon, FOX, Fremantle and Syco make their minds up.

I think some Cheryl fans are relying on X Factor USA too much.

i call b*shit on this being an official survey in any capacity.

the lineups you had to 'choose' from, including randy jackson, la reid, and kara dioguardi, are completely ridiculous and not realistic. the latest rumor was 'simon demi kelly paulina' so that was conveniently one of the options while the other 2 are non-starters. so what, this was some survey to confirm people would like that panel before they make announcement? i don't buy it.

It is an official survey. The parent company is Ipsos, which Wikipedia states: Ipsos has organized its business into several areas of specialization: advertising research; marketing research; media, content and technology research; opinion polls and social research; loyalty, quality and customer relationship management research; and survey management, data collection and delivery.

It could very well be that the panel is Simon, Demi, Paulina, and Kelly and that the other lineups were put in there to make this one look really fresh and exciting. The others are more of the same old and will likely get less of a positive result. I am thinking that since Randy left Idol, Simon is contemplating whether or not to reunite the original American Idol judges to revive that spark from years ago.

As for the others like Harry Connick Jr. and Celine Dion, I think those were put in there to collect initial data for American Idol next season to see who is most known/recognizable. That data has no bearing on the results of the X-Factor study.

I've taken surveys from this company before for past seasons of X Factor USA, American Idol, X Factor Australia, and the Voice USA. There was one right after American Idol Season 9 with Ellen, Randy, and Kara and the negative results probably they got for rating Ellen and Kara supported their choice to let those judges go. There was one also after this past season of X Factor USA which was around the same time that it was announced that Britney wasn't coming back. There was another before X Factor USA season one that did include Cheryl.

What does Ipsos wikipedia summary prove? That it is a firm that exists? Doesn't mean that X Factor / FOX / etc. commissioned this group to go out and feel out people's thoughts on the judges panel... assuming this isn't completely made up (which I'm not accusing you of doing) looks like random sweepstakes / advertisement prepared by someone who knows very little about the show.

The idea that this would be an official survey and that the other 2 lineups were put in there to "make this one look fresh" is also ridiculous -- what is the purpose of the survey: to get the person taking the survey to feel excited about the lineup, or to actually take a survey and get people to give opinion on several potential lineups ...because of the 3 potential X Factor lineups you listed, 2 of them are completely ridiculous for obvious reasons - LA Reid is not coming back to the show, Kara DioGuardi was a failure on Idol who Simon couldn't stand. Randy Jackson is leaving Idol and the idea that Simon is contemplating reuniting the Idol panel is also ridiculous in light of the Paula Abdul failure in season 1. So there's really only one "option" there that is at least somewhat plausible, and that happens to be the option getting a lot of press now.

In other words, nothing should be read into this. Completely useless/ridiculous, but thanks for taking the effort to share.

So you are suggesting they have engineered a poll to give them positive results? As that would be a complete waste of time, what would be the point in running a survey if they have made it so it gives them the answers they want. lol

I was just saying that because it seemed like that was how the questions were geared. One of the questions was to rate how refreshing each lineup was. I mean the other two options include judges previously on X Factor/Idol. How refreshing is that?

Others involved how likely you would be to watch based upon the lineup, how knowledgeable about music are the judges, how excited you would be about the panel, etc. The Idol panel asked whether or not it was too similar to American Idol. It wasn't a simple question of which of the three you would prefer. There were probably at least 50 questions total in the entire survey.

The survey may not mean anything but all I know is that the company has conducted market research studies for other reality shows in the past. The timing of the survey is also suspicious because it fits with when a decision has to be made on the panel.

The reason why they offer prizes is to encourage people to answer the surveys. You get sent surveys but they are optional so they are trying to get as large a sample size as possible.

Dave0893 you more nicely stated my point... yup, i call b*Shit.

Most Cheryl fans don't want her any where near x factor. They would be angry if she went back they see it as failing show.