Ratings for “The X Factor” fell again Wednesday, although anyone who was happy with last week’s performance will be fine with its numbers for the start of week two.
TV Media Insights says the show did an 8.0 overnight metered market rating, down from the 8.7 for last Wednesday’s show and the 8.3 for Thursday’s show. Notable was the low 7.1 in the 8PM half-hour; its subsequent segments were far stronger at an 8.1, an 8.1 and an 8.6.
The drop is nothing that would not be expected for “American Idol” in week two, although it does reveal that word-of-mouth did not produce a significant crop of new viewership.
The to-be-released adults 18-49 ratings should crown “The X Factor” victorious at 8PM. Its numbers at 9PM will not beat those of “Modern Family,” although the fact that ABC’s flagship sitcom split the hour with low-rated “Happy Endings” might mean FOX also won the overall 9PM hour with young adults.
— Over on NBC, “Free Agents” continued its march towards cancellation with a disastrous 2.6 overnight rating. Lead-in “Up All Night” is far from a winner, but its 4.1 at 8PM is certainly more tolerable.
“Harry’s Law” looks to have held up from its season premiere at a 5.3, but since that translated into an abysmal 1.2 adults 18-49 rating last week, the news is hardly great. “Law & Order: SVU” followed with a 5.1, losing clearly to “CSI” and “Revenge.”
Note: All “overnight metered market ratings” are designed to measure performance among total households. In addition to limited accuracy in general, these do not necessarily forecast performance in adults 18-49, the most commonly-valued metric for broadcast series.