1. CASE STUDY: THE XFACTOR
The Website

2. WHAT IS THE CONCEPT AND FORMAT
OF THIS MEDIA PRODUCT?
The XFactor gives ‘normal people a chance to ‘showcase’ their talent and gives
them a shot at getting a life changing record deal.
The Programme was created to entertain and amuse the target audience/the
national demographic.
This could be used as an example of partial direct democracy in action
because we are able to vote for who we think is worthy of winning and it is
not just the judges deciding.
There always seems to be a comedy act that stays in the show because they are
kept in to entertain the audience so the show isn’t bland with just people
singing.

3. WHAT INFORMATION DOES THE
WEBSITE PRESENT TO AUDIENCES?
The website produces information about the finalists on the navigation bar at the top of
the page to allow people who are perhaps new to watching the show to see what people are
in the competition and to read up on them.
The Homepage of the website provides clips and information about the latest show so if
those who have missed the show can quickly get the information they have missed out on.
The captions on the stills of the clips don’t give everything away, such as ‘The name of the
act going home tonight is…’ and ‘Will Frankie’s showdown song be enough to get him
through?’ this allows the audience on the website to look into it more and to explore the
website.
The website has some very helpful links such as ‘vote’ ‘news’ etc so this would allow quick
navigation of the website. It also is kept up to date with the latest news about the
show, what the press are saying.
In the top left hand corner, the Xfactor logo is placed. With the Eyetrack III theory in mind
the logo is very cleverly placed so the consumers of the website will remember/trust the
well known logo.

4. IN WHAT WAYS IS THIS MEDIA
PRODUCT MORE THAN JUST A TV
SINGING COMPETITION?
The title of the show says it all, they are looking for someone with the 'X
Factor' and not necessarily whoever the best technical singer is.
The X Factor is supposed to be a competition that finds the person who
would most likely have a big career in pop music and it doesn't take a genius
to see that success in the charts and ability to sing aren't correlated, if they
were Katherine Jenkins would have more number ones than Cheryl Cole and
Jedward would never have even charted. It's about finding someone who is
marketable.
The show also sells and advertises certain artists or songs and publicise certain
products. It's a light Saturday night entertainment show first and a talent show
second. The show isn't just about talent, but getting to know the personalities
of the contestants and watching people being tested and pushed to the limit.

5. HOW ARE THE CONTESTANTS
REPRESENTED?
The contestants are represented in different ways. Some of the contestants are exploited.
An example would be Johnny who is purely there for entertainment value, a comedy act. A
comment made by Tulisa to Kelly (two judges) was about one of her acts, Misha B was that
she’s turning her into a brand and this is interesting because it is suggesting that this
contestant will be perhaps made into a brand herself, for make up, clothes, perfume; not
just for her music so they could attach her name to all sorts of products because she has
such a strong image.
Other contestants such as Frankie Cocozza is represented to be a good looking, young boy
who is very popular with the ladies/a womanizer. On their individual pages the pictures of
the contestants look very professional and it looks like they’re already celebrities. On Janet
Devlin’s page, the photo of her shows her looking down, smiling and brushing her hair
back. This tells us she is maybe shy, self conscious and innocent. Frankie’s photo on the
other hand, he is giving direct address and this could tell us he is confident, the clothes he’s
wearing make him look like a ‘rock star’ with the leather and studs.
Johnny’s photo looks ‘fun’ and portrays him as a novelty act. Craig Colton looks
feminime, well dressed, camp and could appeal to a gay audience.

6. WHAT COMPANIES ADVERTISE
THROUGH THE XFACTOR?
Many companies have advertised through Xfactor over the years, a big variety.
On the website, on the navigation bar at the top of the page, there are links
for certain companies. Talk Talk, Rimmel and M&S logos are shown. All these
companies are very well known and have recognisable brand names. This is
good publicity for the companies because the show has a vast audience. Talk
Talk has advertised through the Xfactor for a few years/sponser it.
Throughout the show there are various advertisements because there is such a
wide audience demographic. KFC one of the advertisements and this could be
because families are known to sit together on a Saturday night and watch the
show. Garnier is also advertised to appeal to the female part of the audience.

7. WHAT NEW TECHNOLOGIES ARE
PROMOTED TO ALLOW AUDIENCES TO
BECOME ACTIVE
CONSUMERS/PRODUCERS?
There has been an Xfactor app introduced for smartphone users which allows
for quick update checks, latest video clips, photo, backstage ‘gossip’ and news
stories and this allow users to keep informed and find out whats been
happening quickly and effectively. Also, on the website there is now the option
to download the contestant’s version of the certain one they performed from
Itunes which allows for easy use. The option to press ‘the red button’ on your
remote which opens a new page of interaction/active audience.

8. WHAT IS THE OVERALL DESIRED
RESPONSE FROM THE XFACTOR?
I think the overall response desired from the audience is to entertain and for
the viewers to feel different emotions for the different contestants. I think
that the way the audience can be involved is very effective and make the show
more popular because of this.