‘X-Factor’ Hits a New Ratings Low in Its Season Premiere

The days of the singing competition blockbuster on television may be coming to an end.

The latest evidence came on Wednesday night, when the season premiere of “The X Factor,” Simon Cowell’s Fox series, posted its lowest ratings.

The show, which arrived with great fanfare two years ago, all but collapsed this year, dropping to just 6.2 million total viewers, its smallest audience, and a 2.1 rating among the viewers it sells most of its advertising against, those ages 18 to 49.

By contrast, the show opened two seasons ago with more than double the number of viewers, 12.7 million. And it opened last season with 8.4 million. The 2.1 rating among those younger adult viewers on Wednesday night was beaten by the summer series “Big Brother” on CBS (2.2) and even the show after it on Fox “Master Chef” (2.4). That rating was tied by the NBC summer series “America’s Got Talent,” but that show (coincidentally produced by Mr. Cowell) had 9.8 million viewers.

The showing by “X Factor” might portend further erosion for Fox’s once-impregnable singing-show hit “American Idol,” when it returns in January.

In other rating news, the welcome for Arsenio Hall’s new syndicated late-night show faded a bit after its premiere but remained on the good side of respectable for its second installment on Tuesday night. In the biggest national television cities, “Arsenio” managed a 1.7 overall rating on Tuesday, down from 1.9, and a 0.7 rating in the 18 to 49 audience.

That was a bigger drop from Monday’s 1.0 rating in the younger demographic, but it still kept Mr. Hall competitive. He trailed Jay Leno’s “Tonight” show (0.8) but tied Jimmy Kimmel on ABC and beat both David Letterman on CBS and Conan O’Brien on TBS (0.5).