Editorial: Has show still got X-Factor?

American Idol season one winner, Kelly Clarkson.

Many of Rotorua's budding pop stars will be pleased to hear the X Factor auditions are heading back to Rotorua in October.

Somewhere in Ford Block or Lynmore or Western Heights, New Zealand's next big thing may be hiding.

If it's anything like last year's audition, held at John Paul College, there will be hundreds queuing for their chance to impress.

You can't blame them for trying their luck. It may not be making it the old-fashioned, hard yakka, years-playing-in-dingy-pubs kind of way, but the show's produced some hugely successful recording artists worldwide - Kelly Clarkson (pictured), Leona Lewis and One Direction spring to mind. Good on those that decide to audition, you only live once so why the heck not?

But are TV audiences now a bit over watching these talent shows - the same sob stories, the same predictable 'look like they're going to be rubbish but turn out to be amazing', the same painful covers?

It was reported this week that across the ditch, The X Factor Australia and The Voice are in a ratings free fall, the former down more than 300,000 viewers an episode on its 2013 figures. Reality cooking shows are, apparently, beating their musical counterparts hands down.

With New Zealand such a small place, many of us will tune in at first for the curiosity factor - in case we see someone we know, someone we once went to school with or our cousin's best mate's little sister belting out a tune. But it will be interesting to see whether New Zealand viewing figures follow the Australian trend as the show progresses.

Or, like the Aussies, will we all be too busy watching competitive cooking?