ITV drops Rising Star talent show format

It was dubbed the “new X Factor” but talent show Rising Star has been axed by ITV before it even aired.

The format, in which singers perform behind a screen while viewers vote with an interactive app, was bought by ITV last year.

But the broadcaster took the unusual decision to can the show pre-transmission after it flopped in the US and Germany, where broadcaster RTL called time on the show this week after disappointing ratings.

The decision is likely to leave ITV more than £1m out of pocket after buying the show from Israeli format owner Keshet International, and leaves it looking for a new entertainment format to fill the hole left by Dancing on Ice, which came to an end after nine series earlier this year.

An ITV spokesman said: “Rising Star is an innovative show and we have enjoyed working on the format with the team.

“However, as a commercial broadcaster, we always need to be as confident as possible about the potential ratings of any new programme format that we have acquired and we have therefore taken the decision not to proceed with plans to broadcast the series on ITV.”

The ITV director of television, Peter Fincham, admitted last month the programme was a risk but said it was one he was glad to take. However, the broadcaster’s plans to strip the show across a week were interpreted by some as a loss of faith in the format which has now been confirmed.

“I certainly think it is a risk but I thought it was supposed to be a risk so I am glad we have done it,” Fincham told the Guardian Edinburgh International TV Festival in August. “We will find out in due course of time whether it was the right call.”

ITV looked to Rising Star to bolster its talent show stable currently dominated by Simon Cowell’s The X Factor, which has just returned with Cowell back on the judging panel for the first time since 2010, and Britain’s Got Talent.

Like ITV, the BBC also looked overseas for its latest talent show format with The Voice, which was originally from Holland and will return for its fourth series early next year.

Auditions for Rising Star, being developed by ITV Studios alongside Keshet, were due to take place in November.

It launched with 5 million viewers on ABC in the US in the summer, some way behind its NBC rival, America’s Got Talent.

The Keshet UK chief operating officer, Sammy Nourmand, said: “There’s always a risk attached when launching an ambitious new concept and we’re obviously disappointed by ITV’s decision not to move forward with Rising Star.

“We would like to extend our thanks to the team at ITV Studios who have worked tirelessly to adapt the format for a UK audience. Rising Star remains an innovative and groundbreaking format of which we’re extremely proud.”

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