Simon Cowell’s The X Factor is 10% down in the overnight ratings three weeks into its high profile revamp with new judges Nick Grimshaw and Rita Ora.
Sunday’s edition of the ITV talent show drew 7.3 million viewers, a 32.5% share of the audience, more than a million down from the 8.5 million (32.9%) who tuned into the equivalent edition of the show last year.
Saturday’s X Factor was also down, but less markedly, by 600,000 viewers to 7.9 million (38.2%) from 8.5 million (39.7%) last year.
The new-look show has failed to halt the ratings decline since its 2010 peak when nearly 20 million viewers watched Matt Cardle’s win.
However, more people are watching the show on catchup than this time last year, with 2 million viewers recording its launch show, which had an overnight audience of 7.6 million, and viewing it in the following seven days.
The third weekend of the new series picked up a total overnight audience of 15.2 million, down just over 10% from a total of 17 million across the equivalent Saturday and Sunday last year.
The previous weekend was also down 10%, to a total audience of 14.6 million from 16.3 million in 2014.
The launch weekend was the hardest hit, down 19% to 14.1 million from 17.5 million last year.
The X Factor has only gone up against BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing once in its new run, with rivalries due to be resumed on Sunday 27 September with the return of the Strictly Come Dancing results show.
Due to ITV’s coverage of the rugby World Cup, the pair will not clash on a Saturday until 24 October.
Next Saturday – the last Saturday edition of the X Factor for a month – it will be up against the return of Doctor Who on BBC1.
