Ouch, this was with no Strictly clash. So no excuses.
Those live shows will struggle I think.

Some more from rzt:

Go For It: 1.87m (9.5%)
Newzoids: 2.42m (14.2%)
Jonathan Ross Show: 1.63m (12.1%)

Includes +1. Just dire all round. I don't know why ITV bother, a testcard would get more viewers.

They need to axe Ross, been performing badly for too long now

Very underwhelming for TXF. It should be doing around 500k better than that at the very least.

So what if it consolidates well? People zipping through the adverts isn't what ITV is after.

OK, it's still bigger than anything else that they can put there, but only being marginally ahead of your bog-standard episode of Coronation Street is nothing at all to get giddy about.

I don't want to be the guy that talks about weather but it still doesn't feel like autumn - younger people might be still transitioning into nights in after the summer.

XF gets a tough ride on here but it's just a fact that younger people don't watch live tv as much as the sort of viewers who make an appointment with Strictly... no?

There was this BBC show airing in the same late timselot, and was actually shorter, on Friday night, and had a very similar rating - oh yes, SCD!

A certain BBC singing show struggled to hold 4m this year in much earlier timeslots.
But, you're right, I'm sure Syco will be distraught after today's rating.

Some breakdowns (spoilered as they are very long).

BBC 1


ITV (inc. +1)

It's been quite cold where I am, was raining yesterday as well

I presume you're talking about the Six Chair Challenge episodes pulling in those figures when they had a 20 minute headstart on a recorded results show on a Sunday night rather than gifting a 90 minute headstart to the better performing live show on a Saturday night?

When the two shows did clash on a Saturday night last year when The X Factor returned to the night the figures were:

24/10/15 (Judges Houses): 6.68m inc. +1
31/10/15 (Live Show 1): 5.63m inc. +1
07/11/15 (Live Show 2): 6.55m inc. +1
14/11/15 (Live Show 3): 6.48m inc. +1
21/11/15 (Live Show 4): 6.78m inc. +1
28/11/15 (Live Show 5): 6.60m inc. +1
05/12/15 (LIve Show 6): 6.76m inc. +1
12/12/15 (Live Show 7): 5.94m inc. +1

BUT it had a much healthier run up from the Six Chair Challenge (7.49m / 7.58m / 7.81m) than it's going to do this year. The issue is this year the Sunday shows seem to be down on the Saturday shows so, on that basis, tonight's episode will be down below 7m, potentially a million down on last year. Certainly it followed that pattern for Judges Houses where the Sunday episode pulled in 6.47 inc. +1 after the Saturday show (as above) got 6.68m - though the poor quality of the Saturday show may have had something to do with that!

We'll see. But year on year the show is now losing momentum at a slightly higher level and, if it continues into the lives, then 6m figures are not beyond the realms of possibility.


But a mediocre one in the overnights compared to the likes of Strictly, Great British Bake Off and, during the audition stage, it's stablemate Britain's Got Talent. And to commercial channels people watching live are far more important.

Apologies if this has already been posted since I'm catching up...

Those shares are bang in line for both shows. 45% for SCD and 35%+ for XF. It suggests slightly fewer people were watching TV last night for whatever reason. Probably the last warm Saturday for six months and millions get paid around the 24th of every month. Possible explanations.

All the signs that SCD will beat 9m every week and XF will peak over 8m every week and average 7m depending on the two shows clashing.

I'm pretty sure SCD is getting the same share as GBBO of around 45%. Strictly is the daddy television programme on British TV.

BIB Unusual timeslot that it is in only once a year.
BII Friday night is a different game to Saturdays.
BIU A show they had already lost the rights to before it aired so BBC had edited it poorly to kill it off.

The X Factor needs support - I just mentioned the Six Chair Challenge episodes last year but neglected to state that these episodes had a 4m+ lead in from the Rugby World Cup. Strictly has a 4m+ lead in from Pointless whilst The X Factor has to self start time and time again.

To be fair the share is almost passable for Newzoids at that time of night... if it wasn't up against a repeat and had a 7m lead in. Go For It is a disaster; how many more episodes does it have left to go and what the heck is ITV going to put in it's place? I thought Jonathan Ross would perform better in a later slot but he did have a much lower lead in. The show is being rested after this year and not before time.

So an hour long Voice at 8pm on Sundays? Or go 90 minutes since it's only one episode per week?
I would say it's risky running Dance Dance Dance so soon after SCD and it needs as light a competition as possible. Having said that, Barlow might be perfect competition.

It's kind of a mirror of SCD v XF so Dance3 would hope to win the older demographic. I don't know who the host is. I'm guessing Singing in the Rain and Thriller will be on the first episode to get an early strong impression.

X Factor has a lot of climbing to do with such a dire lead in. Repeats of Ninja Warrior would be rating higher.

It really doesn't have far to fall really does it, it does seem to be losing viewers consistently YOY now and while it's still capable of rating respectfully, there must come a point where ITV may have to cut the budget and scale it back. The Performance live shows need something to pep them up as we were seeing sub 6m overnights with +1 last year with the possibility they might stay there consistently this year, especially as some of those had Rugby lead ins last year.

I think we've gotten to a point where the live competition elements of these shows are dying and I think partly this is because this is a format we've had on our screens for over 15 years with Popstars and Pop Idol as well and nothing has really changed. There's nothing that can be done to surprise us, to shock us, to get us talking at work. It's very unlikely with the changes to the charts as well that it will ever have an Xmas No1 single again so the buzz isn't there and there's not a lot they can do to get it back.

(NB: This isn't just aimed at XF, BGT saw it this year and The Voice has a similar problem (but a stronger opening stage) and I think Let it Shine might as well. I think as a nation we're done with super serious talent shows and are looking for more entertainment (Which is why its surprising that ITV fumbled the ball with their Stars in their Eyes reboot, as in a similar vain to Strictly it was camp, silly entertainment)

Could the X Factor been hit by its target audience having their first weekend in University

It could show that the bulk of Strictly's 55+ demo are avoiding the 'younger' skewing X Factor. Do we know the actual crossover figures? Do we know what percentage of the X Factor core demo watches Strictly?

I've got four 27-35 offspring. One watches neither, one watches both and two watch only X Factor.

And this is why TXF has lower ratings. The lead in is piss poor. SCD gets Pointless beforehand which gradually builds, so SCD has less viewers to build to a higher rating when it starts.

I don't care what people say on here. lead in's DO help. TXF basially has to self start. While TXF starts with 6m, SCD Pointless has already build that up part way through its episode. Viewers watch Pointless even if they don't watch it usually, waiting for SCD to start.

If ITV had NWUK on before TXF, I garuntee it would hold up against SCD with a figure around 3.5m-4m. This in turn will give TXF a leg up of at least 2m+ to its start time. This will boost the average. Go For It was still languishing under 3m before TXF started. Pointless was well over 5m.

Put Jonathon Ross out his misery. Why keep him going? In the early eveing he struggles, i the late evening, he struggles. I was right earlier in the week when I said JR would drop as he was pushed later.

Newzoids is just not working after TXF. If ITV do recommission it, I think its needs to be either on ITV2 or ITv after the news.

I'd love to see demos posted. I suspect they would cast a very different light on a lot of programmes. Demos are as important as overnights for non-BBC network channels and really only consolidated ratings are more important.

I think Britian's Got Talent suffered due to the ridiculous scheduling where it aired away from half term week, immediately excluding many families with children who had to get the latter to bed at an earlier time for school the next day. That and the first live show was horrific; I don't know what they were playing at by airing that as the first live show but it was an uphill battle from there.

If they stick Britain's Got Talent to half term and help the talent in terms of production (at the moment they seem to be hindering it more than anything) then there's no reason IMO that the live shows can't hold up better - it's not a super serious talent show and hasn't been since David Walliams joined so there's no reason why it should suffer in the same way The X Factor and The Voice UK both are. It doesn't help that The X Factor and The Voice UK are both fishing in the same talent pool either; I still don't know why the BBC bought it - if the purchase of the you-know-what by Channel 4 is against the broadcaster's remit then the arrival of The Voice UK wasn't too far off breaking the BBC's.

The BBC really doesn't need to chase demos. I'm not saying it should ignore 16-30s but it doesn't have the same need as ITV.
ITV would have made SCD appeal to younger viewers probably. The show is safer on the BBC! 😀

Go For It has 1 episode left. I think it'll be Meets the Parents will fill this slot. I uspect another DOA LE show, but I'm open to be proven wrong.

I think ITV should just end JR Show completely. Its dead. Nobody cares for his chat show anymore.

TRy something different. I would really like a chat show/comedy with French & Sanders. ITV already have Dawn French for Big Little Shots. Get Saunders on board and give them something in comedy to follow on from BGT next year or TXF?

With no offence intended, this is getting slightly desperate now. University is not a new thing which has just appeared in 2016; The X Factor has had to face this weekend every year since 2004 and has rated much better in the past.

You Bet had a more rounded format than just a challenge. It also didn't have a host many dislike. I don't think Mulhearn is a bad host at all, I do think he's on too many shows.

I'd have tried a female host who tells jokes. Sarah Millican type. Whole different feel to the show then and many more would try it out because of the novelty factor.

I totally agree. This is what Simon Cowell is desperate to reverse and I can't quite see how he can.

Both BBC and ITV need to broaden their entertainment commissioning horizons - and fast.