Thursday night’s season finale of “The X Factor” won the night for Fox — but was down from last year’s finale.
The two-hour episode, in which Tate Stevens was crowned the winner, averaged 9.7 million viewers — down from 12.6 million viewers who tuned into last December’s Season One finale won by Melanie Amaro.
Still, those were the show’s best numbers this season since early October, and led Fox to a prime-time victory over second-place CBS.
Judge LA Reid has announced he will not return to the show next season.