Simon Cowell is known as the man with the golden touch in the pop industry but despite securing a third season of the X Factor US, his show is rapidly losing viewers.
The latest series saw a radical reshuffle that included hiring pop singers Britney Spears and Demi Lovato for the judging panel and tapping celebrity personalities Mario Lopez and Khloe Kardashian to co-host the show’s live episodes.
However the Fox reality show saw another substantial ratings drop for its season finale last week according to industry reports.
The man with the golden touch: Simon Cowell’s X Factor is struggling in both the US and the UK
While rival show The Voice’s finale hit a season high and ranked as the show’s biggest closer yet, the X-Factor finale was below its best numbers this season and fell notably from last year.
The two-hour finale in which Tate Stevens was crowned X Factor champion was loaded with guest stars but only pulled in 9.6 million viewers, down 18 percent from its first season finale in which Melanie Amaro won the $5 million record deal.
Time for a rethink: The X Factor is losing out to rival show The Voice
And things don’t look good for 37-year-old country singer Stevens either, as one year on from Melanie’s victory she is struggling to make an impact in the Billboard charts.
The father of two beat teenager Carly Rose Sonenclar into second place to scoop the top prize of a $5m record contract last Thursday night.
But reviews of the second season were not favourable with EW.com reporting: ‘The song-and-dance productions were as clunky and forgettable as ever, Britney’s faces got real old real fast, and Mario and Khlomeister still can’t even figure out which camera to gape at.’
‘Above all, the show is just devoid of any real character … Simon Cowell is the worst of them all – barely awake, looking insulted to even be spending his time like this.’
‘It’s his show, and he’s embarrassed, and he doesn’t care enough to inject any life into it … it’s like an unintentional parody of a reality show with zero sense of humor about itself.’
It was also announced that judge LA Reid, chairman of Epic Records, the Sony-owned label which will sign the winners of X Factor USA, is leaving the show.
And things aren’t going any better on the X Factor UK.
Simon is ‘frustrated’ and ‘worried’ about the future of the show, according to his ex-girlfriend Sinitta.
The 80s pop star, who is close friends with the music mogul, said he is even considering a possible return to the show, which has suffered a fall in viewing figures this series.
Sinitta told the People: ‘This has been the worst series ever and Simon wants to come back.’
Since quitting the ITV show following the 2010 series to start up X Factor USA, Simon had found it difficult to manage the British version from Los Angeles.
Sinitta said: ‘Simon says X Factor is his first baby. He worries about the show and there is a lot for him to worry about at the moment.
‘The wrong people are going. He finds it frustrating. He doesn’t want the whole thing to fall apart.’
‘It is also no secret that he has missed working on the UK show.’
Pay for send me a message ?
Want to send me a Facebook message? But you’re not my Facebook friend? Pay up.
The social network is overhauling its in-house messaging system with a new set of filters that it says will help users reach out and poke each other more effectively. Part of the overhaul: A test that will allow some users to ping people they’re not friends with, if they’re willing to spend a dollar.
Facebook says the changes are primarily designed to let Facebook users who already know each other make sure their missives connect. But the most interesting part of the move is what the social network is calling a “a small experiment to test the usefulness of economic signals
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Here’s how it will work: A limited number of U.S. Facebook users will now have the ability to pay Facebook a fee to send a message other U.S. Facebook users who they don’t know. Facebook isn’t spelling out the cost publicly, but people familiar with the company’s plans say it will start at a dollar a message, and will tinker with the fee over time. The option will only be available to individual users — not marketers and brands — and Facebook will only allow users to receive a single paid message per week. But users can’t opt not to receive paid messages.
Here’s Facebook’s rationale for the move:
This test is designed to address situations where neither social nor algorithmic signals are sufficient. For example, if you want to send a message to someone you heard speak at an event but are not friends with, or if you want to message someone about a job opportunity, you can use this feature to reach their Inbox. For the receiver, this test allows them to hear from people who have an important message to send them.
Glass half-empty translation: Facebook is selling access to your inbox, which you previously could have kept closed to anyone you don’t know, to the outside world.
Glass half-full version: Maybe you do want to hear from those people! And the one-message-a-week cap, combined with the $1 fee, will prevent your inbox from filling up with spam.
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