LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop singer Kelly Rowland and singer-actress Paulina Rubio have signed onto "The X Factor" judging panel, the Fox television talent competition produced by Simon Cowell said on Monday.
Rowland, who rose to fame with R&B group Destiny's Child, and Mexican pop singer Rubio will be charged with re-igniting the Fox series that failed to stave off falling ratings after giving Britney Spears a reported $15 million salary last year.
Rowland, 32, and Rubio, 41, will join Cowell, 53, and pop singer Demi Lovato, 20, on the judging panel, replacing Spears and music mogul L.A. Reid.
"It's taken more than a decade but I'm delighted to finally be on a panel with three girls (I think!). Paulina and Kelly both have great taste and massive experience in the music industry and together with Demi, this is going to be a fun panel. It just feels like the time to do something different," Cowell said in a statement.
"The X Factor" viewership fell to an average 9.7 million per episode from about 12.5 million in 2011.
Cowell has revamped the judging panel after each season, firing singers Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger following a disappointing first season in the ratings.
The show, which Cowell created in Britain in 2004 and brought to the United States, hands out a $5 million prize and record contract on Sony Music Entertainment's Epic Records label.
Fox network's "The X Factor" will enter its third season on U.S. television this fall.
Fox is a unit of News Corp. Sony Music Entertainment is a subsidiary of Sony Corp.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey and Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Eric Beech)