The X Factor final drew just 8.4 million viewers, 300,000 more than the lowest ever recorded in the 11-year history of the show.
Its Sunday night final, which saw Louisa Johnson beat Reggie N Bollie to take the 2015 crown, drew the lowest audience since 8.1 million tuned in to watch Steve Brookstein win the first series of The X Factor back in 2004. It had a five-minute peak audience of 9.9 million viewers.
The two-hour results show – which Simon Cowell had stacked with big acts including Coldplay, Adele and One Direction in the hope of boosting ratings – attracted a 34.4% share of viewing between 8pm and 10pm.
Sunday night’s show was the biggest rating episode of the 2015 series.
Sunday night’s final was significantly down on the 9.1 million viewers who tuned in to last year’s results show to watch Ben Haenow beat favourite Fleur East to the X Factor title.
BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing, which airs its results show from 7.20pm to 8pm, easily won on Sunday night with an average of 10.8 million tuning in to watch Countryfile presenter Anita Rani leave the competition.
The Saturday stage of the X Factor final drew an average of just 5.9 million viewers as Che Chesterman was knocked out of the race for the X Factor crown.
The show, which featured guest acts including Rod Stewart, pulled in a 27.6% share of viewing between 8pm and 10.05pm, was the lowest-rated Saturday night final in the history of the X Factor.
It was 2.5 million viewers down on the 8.4 million who tuned into the Saturday edition of the 2014 final.
Saturday once again belonged to BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing which continued its strong season with an average of 9.4 million viewers and a 42.1% share of viewing between 6.50pm and 8.30pm.
