X Factor SA Wobbles Off Air With Dismal Ratings

Biggest channel in South Africa! One of the Biggest talent show brands in the world! Solid host ... all that and XFactor SA will probably go down in history as one of the biggest blunders of Rapid Blue Productions and SABC1. How did it all go wrong?

For transparency, I only saw three episodes of the show and I gave up on it. Even after speaking to the show's executive producer and getting an insight on the challenges it faced, it just seemed like nobody cared about the show even the channel and people who are responsible for it being on air.

Granted, the SABC, especially SABC1, has been preoccupied with the Generations PR disaster this year but one can't help but think the channel missed a huge opportunity with X Factor SA to prove that they deserve to be the number channel in the country. 

And yes, the distraction with dealing with the management's own PR issues must have been an added burden... BUT why couldn't anyone see the PR positive points pushing X Factor SA would have brought the channel, beats me. 

With a dismal 1.9 million viewers who tuned in to the weekly show, and then around 2.6 million for the results show, The X Factor SA was a complete flop for SABC1. 

The show failed to make the Top 10 shows for SABC1, which necessarily isn't a bad thing given that LIVE does not too but it still has some prestige. 

The issue with X Factor SA is that it just did not have the hype it should have had for a show of its brand value. 

Ok, the judges were complete wrong and the level of talent was a tad below par compared to its international counterparts and local competitors, but the live shows could have remedied that problem. 

Where was the spectacle and prestige? Where was the PR machine to galvanize the audiences to rally behind the show?

With Generations seemingly down in the dumps, SABC1 needed a new signature show for the channel and Xfactor SA could have been that show. 

SABC1 clearly has the means and the troops to make a lot of noise. Rapid Blue has a stellar track record with producing talent shows. 

There is no discernible reason why this show should have been handled in this disappointing manner, therefore one can only deduce that there must have been some politics behind-the-scenes that interfered with the promotion and production of XFactor SA. 

Anyway, congratulations to boy band FOUR for winning. Hopefully they will take it upon themselves to push their own careers off of the meagre attention the show has given them, because if the people behind the show could not be bothered to promote it, I doubt they would care about the winners' careers beyond this point.

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