Ratings: ‘The X Factor’ UK numbers cause tabloid drama; ‘Victoria’ solid

Stop us when this one sounds familiar: British tabloids are already freaking out over the supposedly-low ratings for “The X Factor.” Our question is this: Why is anyone that surprised? At this point, we just think that some of these headlines are used to generate clicks rather than actually contextualizing anything for the reality competition.

Overall, the Saturday premiere of the series drew 6.8 million viewers and a 34% share, while the second episode Sunday drew 6.3 million viewers and a 31% share. The premiere numbers were the lowest for the show since the first season, but there are some reasons for that, whether it be advancements in how people watch TV (there’s less incentive to watch live) and the natural erosion of the singing-show format. The Sunday show was only down 200,000 from the equivalent show last year, which is far less than the 10% decline year-to-year we expect to see.

One thing that we’ll continue to point out when discussing British TV ratings is that if any show in America drew more than a 30% share, it’d be considered a smash hit and a pioneer in programming.

As for some other highlights from the schedule, the premiere of “Victoria” on ITV drew a solid 5.7 million viewers, far below ITV’s previous smash in “Downton Abbey” but still strong for a scripted series. The challenge for this show comes next Sunday, when it is for some reason going head to head with “Poldark” on The BBC. We still don’t get whoever made this decision, since it is likely to hurt both shows.