‘The X Factor’ UK rises even against ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ debut

At this particular point in time, it feels stupid to even suggest that there is some sort of massive ratings rivalry between “The X Factor” and “Strictly Come Dancing,” given that there’s really not. Instead, we should all just submit that the dance competition is probably going to always win, and the best thing that the singing show can hope to do is stay consistent.

Luckily, “The X Factor” certainly did more than just that judging on some of the numbers that have just started to come in now. Last night, the third audition episode, and the first one to feature auditions in Ireland in several years, ended up drawing 8.3 million viewers. That is a significant increase from the week before, where the show had its weakest overall premiere since the first season. We’re not sure what exactly it was that caused the increase, but at the same time it is rather nice to see it going in a positive direction.

As for “Strictly Come Dancing,” its first show of the season drew 9.3 million. This series, otherwise known as “Dancing with the Stars” for viewers in America, somehow manages every year to be one of the nation’s biggest shows, even if not all of the celebrities are altogether that famous. It just has that wonderful family quality to it, and we do also think that the series is dramatically aided by the fact that it does not air all that often, and therefore viewers never get sick of it.

We imagine that this is going to be a heated battle for many weeks to come. With that, we’re going to have so much more in the way of news / discussion on it in the near future.

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