Simon Cowell and Fox’s The X Factor attracted a relatively disappointing 12.14 million viewers for its heavily hyped two-hour debut, and a 4.2 rating among the advertiser coveted 18-to-49-year-old demographic.
In comparison, American Idol‘s debut last season drew 26.2 million viewers and a 9.7 in the said demographic.
Despite falling short of Idol status, so far, The X Factor actually won prime time’s first hour with 11.72 million, against CBS’ Survivor: South Pacific, (10.35 million), ABC’s The Middle (9.35 million), NBC’s Up All Night (6.04 million) and Free Agents (3.86 million) and the CW’s H8R (1.3 million).
It did lose the second hour to Modern Family (14.29 million viewers) and CBS’ Criminal Minds (14.07 million, 4.1). The X Factor beat NBC’s Harry’s Law (7.30 million, 1.2) and America’s Next Top Model on The CW (1.56 million, 0.7).