They do - do better coming second or third - they are not winners so can go out and use their new found fame straight away best eg. JLS ( yeah !! ) the syco management that a winner is placed under puts certain obligations in the winners contract first - a round of tours from January - March ( ok so the whole lot of finalists do this but are not contracted so can do other things too ) then promotions with their new company - image creating - meetings to see where their future lies ( eg Joe MaEldery - went on a few months long stint to America to see if he was right of the High school musical series ? don't know how he got on, but anyway, by the time all this is done the Summer has gone and so they settle down to create their first album, of which one record is chosen to become their single - by the time they record it and release it, well it's half way through the next series. Meantime the ones who came second or third have recorded a few hits already
But dont you think they all find their level of work look at Ollie Murs (yum yum) he's having a ball doing what he 's doing - then again he didn't win either did he