who's Simon going to blame this time

Um...except theyre not down anywhere close to 2 million.

yes they are according the sun from last years opener

Don't believe everything you read in the UK's worst tabloid.

The figures are 6.8m vs. 7.6m. Not ideal, but not even a million down - let alone 2.

It was 800.000 down - which will be today's lot and more watching on catchup - coz they probably went out last night and it's festival season also

Opening on bank holiday never ends well.

This ^ they were still good figures close to 7!

surprising, maybe people thought Olly was still presenting it

And to add to their woes SCD will soon be coming on.

Oh look here come to excuses It's a bank holiday, it was nice day, people went out etc, etc.

Look, the days when the X Factor launched with 10 million are long gone. It's a show in decline, and what TPTB need to be doing is halting that decline. If they can keep it hovering around 7 million viewers, which is still good in this day and age, then it will be fine. Nothing new that ITV launch will get what the X Factor gets now, which is why they are reluctant to let it go, however I can't help but feel that Cowell and co might soon need to accept defeat and just admit the show has run its course.

ITV are clearly bricking it about Strictly and Poldark coming back next weekend which is why they are suddenly hyping up the X Factor and Victoria (which actually looks very good, and ive been look forward to for ages).

exactly

saying it will add viewers that watch on catchup, or online or that recorded it etc etc etc is being disengenuous, as the figure it is being compared to didn't include those things either

the only figure you can compare these ratings to are the overnights from last year which were 7.6M i believe

If you look at the predictions on the opening night thread viewing figures it's way out.

There are obvious problems with this set up.

With Nicole being the only youngish judge the media love to write about spats etc panel rivalry what's female judges wearing etc.

However none of that apply which means the press may struggle to hype this series

i thought they tried way too hard to try and show how much "fun" the panel were

and by finishing the show with a joke act it sent out the wrong message about the direction of the show

the show is better this year but less people are watching. The fault of a disaster series with Olly Murs and that panel

I think im one of the few people who likes Nicole. She is ridiculously talented, Andrew Lloyd Webber wouldn't have cast her in one of his Broadway shows otherwise. I think that's the real reason Cheryl didn't like her, much the same reason as to why she didn't get along with Nadine Coyle either

She is talented but she is extremely annoying

True and also casulty's 30th anniversary ep was on at the same time.

Shes a marmite character for sure. My mum can't stand her and has already said she won't be watching X Factor this year because of her. I think she's very confident in her abilities, which a lot of people still find intimidating in a woman.

God it's so had its day.

To think it reached up to 20 million just six years ago.

In other news, bears DO shit in the woods.

It's not down to one disaster series. The decline has been steady over the last few.

It's the fault of a tired format, too many ads with not enough content, diminishing pools of talent, hopelessly contrived 'bad acts' like Honey G and all too transparent manipulations to name a few.

Or... hear me out on this...

it's because it was the first episode? Nobody knows if it's good until it airs. The word of mouth should bump up the figures from here on in.

Everytime they chase a different demographic they have lost , they then alienate another demographic and lose them.

Problem is each change never gets back the lost demographic

All you have to do is go back to series five (before the arena auditions were introduced) and look at how the auditions are done.

Filled with content, they fly through the contestants like there's no tomorrow. I didn't watch last night but I read that there was only 12 acts shown? 12 in 90 minutes is ridiculous - far too slow paced.

We don't need to know their life stories straight away. Just let them sing, their personalities will seep through as the competition progresses - just like the old days.

She's also a diva backstage.