Although Simon Cowell’s “X Factor” has lost half of its 12 million viewers from Season 1, the executive producer and judge sounds highly optimistic that it will be back next year.
“I think the show, more than think, the show will be coming back next year,” he told reporters on a press call Monday.
When asked again how he viewed the show’s chances of returning for a fourth season, he answered, “Good, because it has a solid audience.”
Cowell liked to refer to his show as being second to “The Voice” in ratings. That would be true if one considered that they are the only two major talent competitions airing presently. The truth is when it comes to ratings, “The Voice” is in a whole other world, regularly scoring about 11 million viewers presently.
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But at this point, Cowell is trying to change the narrative i.e., it’s not about the ratings, but about the talent. He shared the press call with his finalists, duo Alex and Sierra. The group has been blazing the iTunes charts, it’s true. As of last Friday, they had eight songs in the iTunes Top 50.
“What Alex and Sierra have achieved on iTunes over the last couple weeks is phenomenal,” he continued, “I’ve never seen this happen with an artist. I’m really happy, because the show has set out to achieve what it has set out to achieve, which is to find a star. So, I’m very happy.”
He said that if the show is to come back, there would probably be some changes, including airing just one night a week like ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” another new set of judges (here we go again!) and even a role change for Cowell.
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“We have to be more different next year than we were this year,” he said, considering the crowded marketplace for talent shows. “So, we’re in the middle of a presentation to Fox to say this is what we think the show should look like, this is what we think the fans would like. And, yes, my role could change on that show. But, I can’t say much more than that.”
At any rate, Cowell said he’s in it for the long term.
“We have 47 ‘X Factor’ productions running around the world,” the 54-year-old said. “In certain countries, it dips a little bit, you make some changes and it goes back to No. 1. We’re kind of used to doing this.”