This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The second season of "The X Factor" looked better than the first season because of the changes to the judging panel - although considerably fewer people noticed.
With Britney Spears and Demi Lovato on board, "The X Factor" second-season premiere was seen by 8.5 million viewers. That's 3.5 million fewer than watched the first-season premiere with Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger on the panel with Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid.
That's a 29 percent decline. And that's bad.
Which is somewhat ironic, given that the chemistry among the judges was considerably better than it was in Season 1.
NBC's strategy of extending "The Voice" to Wednesday this week worked. That show averaged 10.7 million viewers. Actually, during the 7-8 p.m. MT hour, "X Factor" drew only 7.5 million viewers, so "The Voice" held a 30 percent advantage.
From 8-9 p.m. MT, "X Factor" grew to 9.5 million viewers. But even that was only good enough for second place behind NBC's "America's Got Talent" (11 million).
This is all really early. "The Voice" won't air on Wednesday most weeks. And ABC, CBS and The CW were all in reruns.
But this is not good news for "The X Factor."