Tiger Tony doesn't like little pussies either then!!

Thank you Sam for confirming why Strictly rating was higher lack of competition.

Complete reversal of last week with a really strong Strictly number which is flat year on year. And this week it's X Factor which is down 1m to a frankly awful rating and continuing its pattern of being all over the place this series. Although I have a feeling tonight won't be much better - the judges houses stage needs work, IMO. The Sunday rating last year showed that.


His worst ever? Have you only just started reading them? This kind of guff is merely average for Sammy.

BGT is very popular but was down yoy just like all of Itvs returning light ent shows. And with it heading into series 9, the ratings will most likely continue to decline.

Cilla was a ratings hit but it is a 3-part drama which will never return again. In the whole scheme of things, it is a minor show for Itv.

Tumble may not have done as well as expected but at least that happened in the summer. And the BBC are much stronger than Itv anyway.

I guess all the defenders of XF are having a lie in this morning

If Simon is not keeping the score, it's currently 4-0 to SCD mate......

I think they are paying the price for last Sunday's show. Possibly the worst ever edition of the prog.

Really great to see Strictly bounce back, a strong schedule on BBC One giving them a good night. Would, of course, like DW to be higher though.


Tony Hall probably would pay Samuel to stop posting this crap. It's the same bs anti-BBC posters spout just spun as a positive, which is why I have never considered him a BBC fan, or employee, he's just a wind-up merchant who thinks ITV fans are easier to troll.

Don't worry - the required smugness quota is being kept to a decent level on here.

I do wonder if last Sunday's farce has damaged the show further. Does anyone have a breakdown for last Saturday's show as a comparison, please?

Excellent to see Strictly progress.

I will try not to be too smug about X Factor's sizeable drop, but it has been coming I think. Even if I does rebound to some extent, it's quite clear now that Cowell and Cole are not going to reverse the terminal decline.

I have been telling everyone all along for the last two years that XF is in terminal decline. And that whatever changes Itv try to make to the show wont stop the ratings going down. People kept saying: "no no no, that cant be the case. bringing back cowell will help rise the ratings" - well, look at the ratings now.

XF was a show which was of the zeitgeit. It was huge in 2009/2010 because everyone talked about it, there was huge controversies, the show was in the papers all the time, there were storylines going on left right and centre. However nowadays, the show could do exactly the same thing as it did in 2009/2010 but the ratings would continue to decline - it's because everyone has seen everything before. There is nothing new or fresh on XF to hook people in.

People have seen the whole judges throwing water over each other act. People have heard and seen all the sob stories which make you root for the contestants. Viewers have heard contestants sing the same songs over and over again [whats the betting someone in the next few weeks will sing Purple Rain or I Will Always Love You]. Viewers have seen all the FIX storylines before. Viewers have already seen multiple joke acts before, it's not entertaining anymore. Viewers have already seen the cute young guy with a granny rooting for him winning in the past. Viewers have seen it all before.

Viewers watched XF in the past due to the storylines, not the singing. The judges were the principal actors and the contestants were the supporting cast. The problem with XF is that just like any soap opera, it's rehashed the storylines so much that it kept pushing the boundaries more and more to find something new to churn out to viewers. Eventually they pushed the boundary so much that it's put viewers off. And those viewers, as with any soap opera from Dallas to Coro to Enders, wont come back because theyve seen it all before and it's become repetitive.

So why can SCD get away with it with the same show year after year and XF can't, you may ask. Well, it's because SCD's format inherently is stronger than XF's. SCD doesnt need to rely on controversies or fireworks to draw audiences in, the format will do it itself. It may not hit the highs that XF may have done in 2009/10 as it doesnt get as much press coverage or 'zeit-geit esque buzz' but the format is strong enough for it to remain strong for years upon end. XF was more reliant on stunts, however doing such stunts these days dont work anymore.

It was obvious that XF was going to decline. Centering the show around Cheryl who is basically a 'has been' and Simon who has become over confident these past few years is a turnoff.

Can't believe I'm saying this but give me last years panel back any day. Gary Barlow was not that bad looking back.

Strictly back up to a huge 9.1m and almost flat y-o-y.

TXF - a totally different story. Just 7.3m inc +1 is very poor. They should have just started after SCD. It would still have ended at the same time as last year and would have pulled in a much more respectable figure. I agree with C14E, the format at judges houses needs work. I'm not holding out much hope for next Saturday now. The mammoth 140-minute show is going to hard by Strictly to start with - but should rise once it ends.

They can't even get the show to stabilise, let alone reverse the decline!

I think Dannii will be given all and sundry to return next year. Maybe bring in someone for Dermot too. They could help it by moving it away from Saturday night's like they did with Dancing on Ice. But it's papering over the cracks.

The main things wrong with X Factor.

Recent farce of boot camp stages.
Extending to Friday where it's out of place and breaks the " chain" and habit.
Simon Cowell, far too old to engage with the younger target audiences, if say he was on Radio one he would have moved to Radio two long ago,.
How can someone who is 54 old enough to be a grandfather connect with 17 year olds and know their taste in music.
Louis Walsh...... No further comment. ( age 62)
Out of touch judging panel . - now the voice, and SCD the judges can do it, Simon and Louis can't sing, not relevant.
The clashes are seen as ITVs fault so viewers are revolting against that.
SCD is live and the viewers part of it, XF is currently filmed and no viewer voice.
XF is bloated with adverts and long introductions of judges and related too often making it the one to miss and catch up on later and zapp the padding.
SCD is a genuine show re talent and not fixed and people learn a skill, the show is about them.
XF is a show around the judges, how Cheryl cries, and about them and the contestants are fodder for them, in a pantomime that now lacks credibility.

CONFIRMED: 6.94m (30.4%) for XFactor excluding +1

Worst Saturday night rating for the show since 2004!

Simon lost the plot with series 7 (strange how Big Brother also twisted itself in knots for an audience in that series and never properly recovered); they had a chance to reinvent the show for series 8 but failed.

I think Mel B is fine as a judge but Nicole should have been kept over Cheryl. Cheryl was a great judge in series 5 and decent in series 6 but has disappeared up her own backside since.

Awful rating for X Factor. Having that Friday show has really killed momentum as many fail to watch it and are not too bothered about catching up. Once you miss one show it becomes easy to miss another. Seems to be a general fatigue with it too and the audience can see through the machinations of he producers.
Excellent rating for Strictly. Jake Wood seems to have lit up social media thanks to his dancing last night.

Incorrect. Since 2007. Not that it makes it any better, although as I always say, who cares what it got without +1?

Strictly really was a show of two halves for me last night - the first part was dire; flat with nothing about it. The second half was very good so I followed it to the end after nearly switching off halfway through.

yep, I was undecided about the Friday thing really it got much better ratings then anything else would have in that slot, yet you really don't want people to get into the habit of not watching a show.

Surely it must be lowest Saturday audience including +1 for quite a while too?

No one apart from Samuel who wants to make a bad result seem even worse.


That will have been very deliberate to stop anyone switching over for XF. Saving the best dancers for after 8pm.

If I were ITV I'd consider just moving XF to an earlier slot and clashing MORE with Strictly.

I wonder how XF would have rated if it aired 19:00-20:20 last night. I bet it would have done better, Strictly would have been lower and XF would have got an even higher +1 audience at 20:00.

The Chase could have gone out 20:20-21:20.

There are FAR too many repeats of X Factor on both ITV and ITV2 IMO. It's really not helping the figures at first glance, and no one bothers to look up the repeat figures.

As an XF fan, do you think it is in terminal decline for the reasons I pointed out in my previous post?

They could do with a comedian to host the show, I think that's maybe all that's not quite right about it this year. Bruce was never funny to me so I don't miss him but I do think a comedian is needed for the main host. It would likely see the ratings rise further to have a popular host.

To switch up discussions on here let's say The X Factor is doomed and ITV will let it go after the current contract expires. What will they replace it with?

Will they move Britain's Got Talent from the spring?
Or air a second series a year?
Will they bring back Pop Idol or Popstars and hope that nostalgia helps with the show?
Have they (highly unlikely) got the next big thing up their sleeves?

Quite right too-not perfect-but one of SCD's most memorable dances in just week 2. I dislike his character in EE but seemingly he is very different in real life and SCD could do wonders for him.