The 10-episode premiere of Stargate Universe helped give Syfy Channel its best fourth quarter and one of its best years ever. The network has released a final ratings report on the show’s 2009 performance, which now includes full “Live + 7″ DVR viewing data for all 10 hours.
SGU has averaged 2.57 million total viewers, the network said — an increase of 22 percent over Stargate Atlantis’s final season. The show has averaged a 1.9 household rating (”Live + 7″).
In key demographics, Stargate Universe is up 51 percent over the final season of Atlantis among adults age 25 to 54 (1.63 million); 33 percent among adults 18 to 49 (1.43 million); and 28 percent among adults 25 to 54.
Its Friday night companion series, Amanda Tapping’s Sanctuary, has averaged 2.1 million viewers and a 1.6 rating for the majority of its 13-episode second season, which concludes January 15 at 9 p.m. with a 2-hour finale.
And over at Syfy.com, the SGU site has delivered 6.2 million page views, 913,000 unique visitors, 1.3 million visits and 4.1 million video streams.
Stargate Universe was the network’s third most watched scripted series, behind summer hits Warehouse 13 and Eureka.
TV by the Numbers has also posted an interesting break-down of Syfy’s top four scripted shows in 2009, and how interest in them breaks down by gender and age demographics. Their conclusion? SGU is “Syfy’s most popular show with young men 18-34 in Live+SD viewing. … But with women 18-49, and 18-34, SGU was the worst-performing of the four scripted Syfy shows that ranked in the top 50″ for all of basic cable.
Universe came in at #24 on the Top 50 list for all basic cable scripted shows, the site said. (Warehouse 13 was #22, Battlestar #23, and Eureka #28).
The average SGU viewer is 46 years old for Friday night ratings, and 45 for total live plus DVR, according to the site. That’s a bit older than Battlestar Galactica’s viewers (43 and 42) and, as expected, younger than viewers of Warehouse 13 (51 and 50) and Eureka (51 and 49).
The network’s 2009 rebranding from “SCI FI” to “Syfy” appears to be a hit by all measures. The network says it will roll out the new name to its international networks in 2010.
Stargate Universe continues starting April 2 with another 10 brand new episodes to finish out the first season. Season Two has already been green-lit, with filming expected to begin around the first of March.
NEXT: Read the full press release
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There is more spinning in that press release than the Stargate spinning, itself. I wonder why they won’t compare the first 10 eps of SGA to the first 10 of SGU. That would be more fair.
DragonHeart | January 7 @ 12:55 pmIt’s not about being “fair,” DragonHeart. The network isn’t concerned about whether SGU is doing as well as SGA did when it premiered five and a half years ago. Its only concern is whether it is doing better than whatever aired in the timeslot a year before, and whether it is doing better than something else Syfy could have spent the money on (e.g. a sixth season of SGA).
Darren Sumner | January 7 @ 1:01 pmI know that, that is why we get spin. It is just the name of the game. Don’t you think they should wait for the entire season to air, before making a comparison, that to me would be more fair. I doubt the 2nd half will do as good as the 1st. Since there is no series premiere to bump up that number.
DragonHeart | January 7 @ 1:04 pmOr perhaps compare the last aired episodes of each: Justice to EaTG.
Sylvia | January 7 @ 1:34 pmOne can spin statistics in a number of ways, if your remove the first few highly publicised eps of SGU it isn’t doing all that much better than SGA Season 5. Especially the latter half of SGA Season 5.
However, it does attract the young men, which is evidently what they wanted:
“It’s Syfy’s most popular show with young men 18-34 in Live+SD viewing, and young men 18-34 are pretty much the holy grail of advertising since they are oft-cited as the most elusive group to reach with television advertising. But with women 18-49, and 18-34, SGU was the worst-performing of the four scripted Syfy shows that ranked in the top 50.”
(TV by the numbers analyis of the Gender Gap from an article dated 12-29-09)
i just what to say im 19 and i have been watch since i was 10 and i just can`t stop watch stargate every show is cooler the the last and i start it with season 201 of sg-1 GO SGU!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PEAKKING19 | January 7 @ 1:35 pm@ Dragonheart:
davey1983 | January 7 @ 2:35 pmHow is it spin? They stated the numbers and then compared them to the first ten episodes of SGA season 5 (which was last year). How is comparing the numbers to SGA’s first season fair?
Why don’t we demand they compare the numbers to SG1’s first ten episodes? We should actually demand they provide the numbers for the first ten episodes of season 1 and season 5 because those are the first ten episodes that aired on different networks.
Sorry, but this release is not spin. The network is informing, mostly advertisers, that SGU is bringing in more viewers (especially young males) so that they can charge more for advertising. In other words, SGU is a success and, business wise, a better move than renewing SGA for a sixth season.
@davey1983 You sadly do not understand the definition of spin. Take Sanctuary’s numbers, there is no spin, just numbers posted how they did. Anytime, they use percentages to show increases of past seasons or other shows, it is spin.
DragonHeart | January 7 @ 2:39 pm“But with women 18-49, and 18-34, SGU was the worst-performing of the four scripted Syfy shows that ranked in the top 50″ for all of basic cable.”
So basically I interpret this as if you are a guy and are a big fan of Melrose Space you probably are not doing well with the ladies.
Uncle Al | January 7 @ 2:49 pm@Uncle Al
Well obviously since people are home watching TV rather than going out and scoring with the ladies, ha ha.
DragonHeart | January 7 @ 2:54 pmit spin as well because they not included the SGA +7 days or DVR rating, as season 2 and 3 got more thn SGU got for these first 10, so more spin
law7441 | January 7 @ 3:24 pmI can see why they are comparing SGU to SGA’s last season, because they are looking to see if it was a profitable decision to cancel SGA for the new show.
Sylvia | January 7 @ 3:36 pmAnd if you take the overall numbers for the first 10 episodes and compare them to the 20 eps of SGA’s last season it looks like SGU is doing better.
(Although advertisers probably don’t care too much about the Live+7, they are bragging rights for the production company and the network.)
However, if you look at the decline in SGU’s numbers over time, and how poorly Justice did (Live +Same Day and also Live+7), so that it did not even match some of SGA’s last season ratings, only time and the second half numbers will tell if it was profitable decision or not.
Numbers numbers numbers…
mistergroenevingers | January 7 @ 4:57 pmA whole lot of numbers that don’t interest me at all. I’m happy for SciFi that SGU is supposedly doing well for them but my opinion is still that I don’t like SGU in comparison to SGA and SG1. No numbers are ever gonna change that. The only thing that could is a streak of freakishly good episodes. Numbers can always be made to serve a purpose, wether it’s this way or the other way. Hopefully the numbers will provide us with some SG-movies sometime soon.
well lets see if sgu does has good as the reruns of The Tudors when it starts airing in April.
mrs john sheppard | January 7 @ 5:19 pmThe spin is becoming so rediculous now it’s laughable. SGU dropped one million viewers from its first to its 10th episode and seemingly this is a sucess. Why is DVR suddenly now the holy grail while last year DVR wasn’t even considered in the overall ratings.
Lets at least wait for SGU to finish its entire season before its compared to SGA. Where is this younger audience then if SGU is averaging 46 year olds, isnt that what SGA was averaging or slightly older. Where does this 51% increase come from then as the GW threads are full of teen/twenty something males.
blackhawlk | January 7 @ 5:27 pmRe the Gateworld SGU threads, there is a noticeable lack of veteran female posters, those names who were a staple of the SG1 and SGA threads.
Sylvia | January 7 @ 5:40 pmI wonder how this will affect the con scene, as it seems to me (from having been to a few) that there is a majority female presence.
@Blackhawlk
I read on the GW SGU ratings thread that Atlantis had a 46 year old age median and SGU had a 45 year old after all DVR.
DragonHeart | January 7 @ 5:48 pmIt’s a press release. If it wasn’t spin then the people who wrote it wouldn’t be doing their job.
Donsta | January 7 @ 7:04 pmDo these ratings factor in Hulu?
Hajhaabotbea | January 7 @ 8:13 pmMy gf and I are both huge Stargate fans, have watched every episode, movie, etc,. and she dislikes SGU even more than I do – I found this very surprising because stereotypically she/women are more into the soap opera style of show. But she entirely cannot stand to watch SGU at all, so perhaps it’s the overdose of ridiculous drama or something that ends up having a reverse affect on women!? But anyway, I just found it very interesting in this press release when they said what they did about female viewers and SGU! Guess my girl is more normal than I thought! (but don’t tell her I said that)
Also, I agree on the spinning of the #’s here but also agree that it’s just part of their job
Kosh | January 8 @ 12:33 amGeez, the haters just can’t accept that the show isn’t flopping. Try and learn to deal with change people, I’d hate to be in here 5 years from now listening to the same 5 posters still whining about the death of SGA while bashing SGU. It’s all a done deal. SGA is gone, SGU is doing well, move on already.
DarkElfa | January 8 @ 1:52 amThe show’s not flopping, DarkElfa, but people who actually bother to dig deeper than the PR releases know a spin when they see it.
The median age of SGU is 45 – the median age of SGA was 46. Between 1×01 and 1×10 SGU dropped 1 mil. viewers. In Canada, the viewership dropped 45% between 1×01 and 1×10. In Australia, the show hasn’t made it into the top 50 since 1×07. In the UK, Justice didn’t make it into the overnight. In all countries that air this show, Justice was the lowest rated ep. In the US, Justice dropped lower than the lowest rated ep of SGA S5 (First Contact) which made it the lowest rated ep of the Stargate franchise in at least two years. SGU is the lowest rated show in females of all the listed SyFy shows.
So yes, it’s nice to spin numbers in a positive way – hey, I’m a Supernatural fan, I know all about spinning – but in reality, the situation isn’t as rosy as SyFy is making it look. You just have to look at other numbers besides PR releases.
katikatnik | January 8 @ 5:42 amTo add: the median age of SGU – 45 in Live+7, 46 in Live+SD, with SGA always just a year older. To post correct information. Even if SyFy kept SGA, it would have been their 2nd scripted show in median age after BSG and before W13 and Eureka, it would have held the same rank as SGU holds now.
katikatnik | January 8 @ 8:06 amI’m always fascinated at the quick response from both sides of this love/hate program. Though I did not like a single episode shown so far I am still willing to give it to the end of the first season. Some people are asking if you would rather have bad sci-fi or no sci-fi at all. I’m curious to hear the answer to that from all of you out there. For me it would be no sci-fi at all. Before I get out of here I just want to defend SGA one time. I think the shows with character Michael were great. I think bringing in Amanda Taping put the nail in the coffin. She was under utilized and just a bore. Was it infighting that really ruined SGA? Me thinks so.
flmatthew | January 8 @ 8:54 amThe only reason SGU is doing anything is because its new and we are all hoping for a great series to replace the one we lost,,NOTHING will ever replace SG1 period,,and while SGA was better than nothing,,,SGU IS NOTHING,,,its boring totally without substance and certainly dull plotted,,,its a bore,,i have already given up on it,,i have bought my full series DVDS for SG1 and more than likly will buy SGA but im done,,one thing the writers should have learned,,IF IT AINT BROKE,,,,,DONT FIX IT!!! SG1 could have gone on and on even with cast cchanges,,,but this whole new show sh** is just not working,,SORRY ..you maybe doing OK now because your new ,,but as it stands,,,im not watching next season,,there must be some show i can get into in SGU time slot,,or,,maybe i will just TURN it OFF and read a book,,,
Egyptsy | January 8 @ 9:18 am