The new series of The X Factor UK version, which included the return of iconic Cheryl Cole and the debut of Spice Girl Mel B as judges, pulled in a peak audience of over 10 million viewers on ITV, the UK based commercial terrestrial channel which gives touch fight for BBC in terms of grabbing viewership.
According to overnight viewing figures released by ITV, the first episode of the 11th series of the musical talent show, which this year lowered its age limit to include contestants of 14 and over for the first time, drew a peak audience of 10.6 million viewers.
The full audience figures had not been released at the time of writing, while catch up figures will be added to the final total at a later date.
Meanwhile, TalkTalk will this year sponsor the long-running entertainment series, by including viewers performing some of the most popular songs from the last year within its idents for all programmes related to The X Factor, including behind the scenes programme, The Xtra Factor.
TalkTalk’s sponsorship of the X Factor continues for the sixth consecutive year as the show returned on Saturday 30th August.
This year the idents, created by CHI&Partners, will give fans the chance to star in their own professionally-crafted music videos pulling content from the branded ‘Mix Off’ app where TV viewers can create their own music videos at home, with a real made-in-studio feel.
Directed by Sammy Rawal, produced by Believe Media with digital development, technology and VFX from MPC, the new idents aim to make fan clips look exactly like professionally-produced and directed videos.
“This is a hugely ambitious project which blurs the lines between TV and mobile advertising, at a level of quality which has never been reached before,” said Chad Warner, digital creative director at CHI&Partners.
Director Rawal commented: “I think what’s really cool about these new idents is that they really feel like chunks or excerpts from actual music videos. They’re really going to give X Factor viewers the chance to experience what it feels like to be in a high-end music video of their own. We’ve tried to create a full range of videos that not only look amazing, but also appeal to a very broad audience.”
The ‘Mix Off’ app is available to download from today and is fully responsive across iOS, Android and the web. Fans of the show can create videos starring up to four people with nine different tracks and eight different styles available, all professionally directed by Rawal. Throughout the season the music videos will be released onto the app in staggered phases.
Warner added: “TalkTalk’s partnership with The X Factor has charted the evolution of TV advertising in the digital age, and ‘Mix-Off’ represents how far we’ve come in that time: empowering X Factor fans at home to create something which really looks and feels like it was made for the big screen.”
A second-phase release of the app is already planned for September to coincide with the end of the auditions stage. The second release will allow users to pull in performances from Facebook friends as well as other performances submitted via the app. More than 160 user-generated idents will air between August and the X Factor live final in December.
