''The X Factor'' is a television
music competition
A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, solo (music), soloists, composers, conducting, conductors, musicologists or compositions. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are h ...
franchise created by British producer
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...
and his company
Syco Entertainment. It
originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''
Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), and has been adapted in various countries. The "X Factor" of the title refers to the undefinable "something" that makes for star quality.
[Described as "something you can't quite put your finger on" by ]Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Ann Tweedy (born 30 June 1983) is an English singer and television personality. She rose to fame as a member of Girls Aloud, a Pop music, pop girl group created through ITV (TV network), ITV's reality competition show ''Popstars: The R ...
, a judge on the UK version of ''The X Factor'', ''The Xtra Factor'', 23 November 2009
Similar to ''
Got Talent'', the franchise maintains a
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel, called ''X Factor Global''. The channel uploads clips of ''X Factor'' shows from around the world. The channel currently has over 3 million subscribers. Additionally, many individual ''X Factor'' shows have their own YouTube channels such as ''X Factor Latvia''.
''The X Factor'' around the world

There have been a total of 250 winners of ''The X Factor'' worldwide.
Franchise that is currently airing
Franchise that is not currently airing, but is slated to return in the future
Franchise that has ended
Franchise that was cancelled during production
Franchise whose status is unknown
;Notes
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See also
* ''
Popstars''
*
''Idols'' (franchise)
* ''
Star Academy''
* ''
Got Talent''
*
''The Voice'' (franchise)
*
List of reality television show franchises
*
List of television show franchises
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:X Factor, The
Television franchises
Television series by Fremantle (company)