THE X Factor drew its lowest ever ratings for a finale last night as Ben Haenow had his moment of triumph.
The show had an average audience of 9.1 million viewers, 200,000 fewer than the previous low in 2005.
And it was a colossal eight million down on the 2010 final when Matt Cardle's win brought in an average audience of 17.2 million.
The climax of ITV's singing contest was beaten by the Strictly Come Dancing results show, which pulled in 9.6 million to see Jake Wood booted out at the semi-final stage.
The X Factor pulled in 9.7 million in 2013, when Sam Bailey landed her record deal.
Last night's figure included viewers of ITV's catch-up +1 channel, which were not included in the days when the previous low point of 9.3 million was recorded nine years ago.
The final also saw its peak audience tumble dramatically with a high of 10.5 million watching the winner crowned - compared with the 11.9 million figure in 2013.
The return of Simon Cowell and Cheryl Fernandez-Versini to the judging panel this year was expected to boost ratings but they appear to have been unable to affect the audience decline.
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