Quite possibly yeah. I didn't personally think there was any more back story than there normally is but maybe I'm wrong!

You've summed it up perfectly by saying it wasn't in the script and that certainly makes things more interesting! I don't think any of us here would want ratings to ever become predictable and this weekend's inconsistent results now mean there's a real question mark over where it will land next week and beyond. A potential cause for concern for ITV and Cowell but a more interesting Sunday morning than expected beckons for us on here!

The X Factor rating makes it more interesting for next weeks clash with Strictly.

@Salv

CBB figures for the weekend

Fri
1773 (+1 96k)
Sat
1022 (+1 183k)
Sun
1738 (+1 218k)

Phew. Great to see the show rally like that. Just the response C5 wanted to see.

But what on earth happened exactly on Saturday?

Thank you, your a life saver buddy!

Very good for last night with 1.96m incl +1!

The clash with the young skewing Through The Keyhole (and maybe Xtra Factor) probably dented it.

They haven't stuck to the same format as last year though. Last year was tightly formatted with the rooms on Saturday and the arenas on Sunday. This year they are just showing all the rooms first so last night was just another rooms show and the Sunday show wasn't promoted well on air at all.

The fact it was swamped by disasters either side of it won't have helped. Last year the same show had a Corrie lead-in and a lead-out from Vera.

Oh dear oh dear. Less than 8million excluding plus 1 is dire for a second Sunday episode. Hahaha. XF in crisis.

Well I didn't see that decline coming for The X Factor. The show seemed to have received a decent response from Saturday and the competition was reasonable but not epic. It was left stranded in the schedule somewhat but it still should have done better than that.

I would have liked to see "The Great British Bake Off" figures in January, with a heavy winter I would be interested to see what they would rise to. "The X Factor" did reasonably well there I though, its overnight is above everything else this week and I guess look pretty amazing had it been any other programme but there are expectations on it. Perhaps unrealistic expectations.

This is true. But it was on Saturday & Sunday like last year and people knew it was on both days. Many weeks on Sunday it didn't have a Corrie lead-in and still managed 9m. This is unusual.

Agreed, that is a strong Sunday number, in fact the 2nd highest of the series (not counting the launch).

I wonder what Cowell will be aiming for? There's no way the show will hit the heights of his last year on the show, but I wonder what his target figures are? I'd assume he would be wanting 10m.

That's a big drop. Not great. If I was Simon I'd be worried for Strictly next week.

Thanks. A fine example of a show bouncing back from a poor rating which may happen with The X Factor. Next Saturday's figure will be interesting.

Definitely. Even I'm intrigued as to what's going to happen next weekend now which wasn't the case previously. I thought I already knew how it was going to pan out.


Maybe. I still would have expected it to hold up better than that, though. But at least it bounced right back to the very top end of what it's been getting. James Jordan was worth every penny they paid him, as much as he irritates me.


In fairness though, it didn't have much to beat did it?

Countryfile - old skewing, very different audience profile
Dragons' Den - repeat
Time Team Special - old skewing, very different audience profile
World's Deadliest Storms - repeat

That's the point. It should still have been over 9m anyway on a Sunday with more viewers and never needed a lead-in to do it.

An update from Yog.


Wednesday's Bake Off is now at 10.01m!

ronant reports on Twitter that last night's TXF was down -1.7m year-on-year.

Lead in would have been about 6m higher last year and lead out 4m higher. Countryfile really seemed to hurt it. Leaving a programme that doesn't need negative press attention ratings-wise abandoned in the schedule was nothing short of crass stupidity.

But, despite this, it should have still rated better.

Singing talent shows are on the down in general people are kind of over it. 8M still sounds pretty good given they are trying to find a popstar which requires putting through lot of teenagers. So then you have a show full of young kids but young audiences rather watch online tv.

And the audience who enjoys reality show will rather watch something with more adults or with celebrities like bake off or strictly. It is what it is. How many late teens and 20-somethings are buzzing about the show? 3 years ago they were willing to skip parties just to watch it. No matter how hard Cowell tries this show won't stay No.1. It's still making lot of money though.

X Factor is weaker than we thought if it needs a big lead-in to manage 9m on a Sunday. Saturday's rating will be the telling one if it dips a fair bit from its launch overnight rating.

Wow Bake Off nearly as big as Xfactor who would have guessed.

ITV have signed a three year deal for X Factor so it isn't going anywhere for now. It also continues to get large numbers in the youth demo which advertisers love, plus it will get a few acts that will shift records for a couple of years.

It's a cash cow for ITV and Syco.

We really should say "The Great British Bake Off" reached 11 million if the Sunday repeat is added I guess. As for "The X Factor" its still ITV most popular show of the week, and its a 10 year old programme.