Sekret Uspekha was a Russian popular music talent show, broadcast on Saturdays on RTR. It was similar in format to Narodniy Artist, and was the Russian version of the British show The X Factor, created by Simon Cowell. The Секрет Успеха of the title refers to the secret and undefinable "something" that makes for star quality. The show is primarily concerned with identifying singing talent, though personality, stage presence and dance routines are also an important element of many performances.
There were two series. The first was in 2005 and title was won by Vladimir Sapovskiy. A second series was broadcast in 2007, and title won by Nikolay Timokhin.
The show was cancelled after two series because of insufficient number of viewers, but after the immense success of the X Factor series internationally, a new Russian series was launched, named Faktor A after the name of Alla Pugacheva rather than Faktor X.