We could be witnessing the death of singing reality shows after The X Factor tanked on Monday.

The Seven Network series was a runaway success last year but it failed to even top a million viewers on Monday.

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It was even beaten in the ratings by Network Ten’s cooking series MasterChef which is rising like a souffle in the ratings this season.

The X Factor, which only launched on Sunday, attracted 970,000 viewers for the second episode which is ordinary to say the least.

Seven has been proud of X Factor’s success and the talent it has discovered.

But after Monday’s audience, questions will be asked about the timing of the series and why it was scheduled to clash with the Nine Network’s singing show The Voice.

The Voice too is in serious ratings trouble.

Sure, it’s still attracting a million plus audience each episode. But it costs Nine, according to TV insiders, about $50 million to make.

This year’s series launched with more than 2 million viewers. But in the last few weeks The Voice has been labouring and has struggled to attract more than 1.3 million.

The penultimate episode on Monday was second overall on OzTAM’s overnight ratings with 1.247 million.

It was even beaten by Nine News (1,326 million) which is some consolation for the network.

But it’s still not the result Nine would have been expecting at the start of the third season.

Unless The X Factor ratings starts to head skyward and next week’s finale of The Voice peaks with more than two million viewers, then questions will be asked about the viability of both shows.

On another note, Network Ten’s relaunch of Family Feud in the competitive timeslot of 6pm had a solid start.

Family Feud, which screened simultaneously on all of the network’s digital channels, was 17th overall with an audience of 690,000.

AAP