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
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.
It’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).
I 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.
Or perhaps compare the last aired episodes of each: Justice to EaTG. One 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… Read more »
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ Dragonheart: How 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… Read more »
@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.
“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
Well obviously since people are home watching TV rather than going out and scoring with the ladies, ha ha.
it 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
I 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. And 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… Read more »
Numbers numbers numbers…
A 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.
The 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… Read more »
Re 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.
I 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.
It’s a press release. If it wasn’t spin then the people who wrote it wouldn’t be doing their job.
Do these ratings factor in Hulu?
My 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… Read more »
Geez, 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.
The 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… Read more »
To 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.
I’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… Read more »
The 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**… Read more »
The only SGU did so well was the same reason the first season of Atlantis was so high. People noticed there was going to be a new Stargate show, and natuarlly wanted to see if it was any good. SGU will probably have a decline after seaon one, just like Atlantis.
@HillshireFarm Good point. Stargate fans are curious. It is a new series and well people are curious. The show will not appeal to everyone which is fine. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea and the pro SGU folks need to understand that and stop attacking people with legit issues with the show. Fans lost their show not due to ratings, but due to a creative decision by Hardly Wright to move onto a new series because he wanted to and convinced MGM and SyFy to do that. What if SGU is not appealing to these fans? They have every right… Read more »
@Sylvia
“I 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.”
Why are these cons never in my area?! I would love to go to a con of stargate fans with a majority of females. :D
SGU hasn’t been around long enough to fully judge it. While I haven’t been impressed so far, it has been said that the latter half of the season is a bit different. With the ratings declining and the buzz on the internet, they’re not likely so stupid to not take notice. While I don’t hold out much hope for the rest of season 1 since it was completed before the dissent started to grow, I will likely continue watching into at least part of season 2 to see if they make any attempts to redeem. It does have potential to… Read more »
@flmatthew “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.” My answer would be no sci-fi. I got enough dvdboxes of good sci-fi to watch. “I think the shows with character Michael were great.” I never liked the Michael character and in my opinion this is what made for the most boring episodes of SGA. “I think bringing in Amanda Taping put the nail in the coffin. She was under utilized and just a bore.” I doubt Amanda had… Read more »
My girlfriend and I (both in the 18-34 bracket) love SG1 and SGA. Tried SGU but its a snore fest. No witty lines or particularly likeable characters (Eli is not bad, he started off well, seems to have gone downhill now that he has shifted his interest to something sexual). End result is we took SGU off our series link. Lucky for us Scifi in Australia runs SGA reruns every weeknight and is about to start SG1 reruns from 1×01! Can only hope that they release the next batch of movies. I have both movies so fingers crossed I get… Read more »
@aarondevenny
In Aus, I heard reruns of Season 4 of SGA are doing better than new eps of SGU. Go figure.
I read somewhere that the last 10 eps of SGA averaged something like 1.7 Million live and SGU had 1.9 Million live for their last 10 eps. Not a big difference if you ask me. Figured live counts unlike DVR + 7.
Well let the PR people have their day. The second half of the season will be much harder to spin now that the curious fans of SG1 and SGA have given up on this failed attempt at Stargate.
It’s a really strange thing to see how Syfy desperately tries to convince us SGU is doing well or better than SGA and above all when we read most of the answers here prove the opposite. Many people think they try to favorably compare the number. It’s true it’s unfair to compare 10 first SGU eps with the SGA 5th season. The best thing is to compare SGU first season and SGA first. We even can the 10 fisrt eps in live and we can see SGA got an average of 3.05 when SGU got 1.99. So can’t seriously call… Read more »
I counted 1039 words in the entire press release. Only 78 are actually devoted to Stargate Universe. Yet, from the reactions here, you would think its sole purpose was to trash SGA. Get a grip. Press releases are written for publicity purposes. Comparing ratings to a previous year is standard practice used by ALL networks. If you think comparing SGU’s half season rating to SGA’s full season is unfair, it would have been even worse looking if they compared it to the SGA episodes that ran at the same time of year in 2008(a more appropriate comparison BTW). I’m thankful… Read more »
At the end of the day, if the series gets the numbers, its good news for all SGate fans. SGU’s characters leave me a bit cold, and the premise feels a bit shoehorned to me. I am an SG1 veteran and I liked SGA’s first 2 seasons. If SGU keeps the franchise going, then there is more hope for the SG1 / SGA dvd movies. – The second a franchise weakes and looses money it dies, and is forgotten in the industry. Babylon 5, TNG era Star Trek and Buffy are all got examples. = Crusade Angel and Enterprise had… Read more »
@thunderbird2
As many others have already stated in comments on numerous articles on Gateworld. There was a 2 season deal from the very start. Therefore the numbers can’t have anything to do with a second season of SGU being on the way.
But indeed it would not be good if the franchise dies. That’s probably one of the reasons why a lot of fans are so frustrated with SGU, because their favourite show has it’s ass in the sling right now.
@MediaSavant
No offense but people should not get a grip. They have every right to be upset. SGA was not cancelled due to ratings, and it was a creative decision to move SGA into the movie market. Never once it mention ratings being a factor. Yet, MGM won’t fund the money for the movies for either SG-1 and SGA. Both shows have proven to be a success. So it is a little upsetting for SG-1 and SGA fans who want nothing to do with SGU and won’t get their movies.
Good for SGU. I am getting excited about the 2nd half. I heard Space is going to be very action packed. So this might be the big pay-off a lot of us have been waiting for.
As per people complaining about the SG-1 and SGA movies. They will happen, once MGM gets themselves more organized and out of debt.
Speaking as a woman, there’s no female in SGU I can get behind, no “Samantha Carter” or “Elizabeth Weir” like character. The “Chloe Armstrong” character is unappealing, and Ming Na has been sorely underutilized in the first 10 episodes. I think it’s time for the writers’ room on SGU needs to add a female writer.
I think we just needed a new set of writers. It wasn’t the fans who lost interest in the franchise but the writers. SGA had the potential to carry on for many more years if it had been in the hands of more creative writers who were capable of writing for more than one member of their cast. It was the writers who became stale and lacked the ability to develop their previous characters. They couldn’t even write for the guys let alone the women. The women have been written dismally, with Weir and Keller being the worst. They are… Read more »
I’ll springboard off of amaldoran’s comment and add that women viewers might not care for Universe because the female characters have been so lackluster. Worst of the franchise.
@blackhawlk @mistergroenevingers and @domdom All very nice points :). Especially @domdom’s post. I fear the worst for the franchise tbh. I hope it gets better but it is not a well written script by some of the writers.
They needs more eps like Time and Light imo. Why haven’t they concluded that bit for Time?
I just found this. Ouch this is no good. A lot of people are not liking this show. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286039/ No sense of adventure in this series. It’s WAY TOO SLOW!!!
@Chevron Atlantis there wasn’t any need to conclude ‘Time’ on screen since the viewer can easily assume that LT Scott’s plan worked. I believe there’s a Kino web episode that does it anyway though.
These http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286039/usercomments uncensored Viewecomments say it all.
I miss SG1 and SGA Season 1-4 but I definitly will not watch any new SGU and even did not watch the Episode 8 9 and 10 and I bet if I would watch them ther would be again 5 Min SciFi per Episode….
The Name says Stargate but that is not whats in the Box…
We left science behind at that point and jumped full time on the cheating wives -bad guy taking the others identity ‘soap opera’ format. I can’t even pretend it’s SF any more other than it’s on a spaceship. Of course we could have a character ‘wake up’ 4 seasons from now and find out it was a bad dream or someone’s autistic kid’s fantasy or any other classical TV ploy you care to use.
I am a fan of SG1, and Atlantis, but to be honest, I have not enjoyed SGU at all! It more of a drama, than a space show. I am probably not alone, in saying I have been watching every episode of the show, hoping it gets better. Although it is absolute s***, I will still probably watch, because it is the only thing left of Stargate now… I’d love to hear if this is what people are also doing… Where are the aliens? Where is space? Where are the planets? If you wanted a drama, don’t call is Stargate.… Read more »
I have a question: did SGA use Live+7 ratings? Seems to me that it was Live+1… if that is the case, then comparing Live+7 to Live+1 and expecting accurate numbers is erroneous thinking…
“Where are the aliens?”
Ship leaving the Destiny at the end of ‘Air Part 3’, Sand creature in both ‘Air Part 3’ & ‘Water’, Creatures in ‘Time’, crashed alien ship in ‘Justice’ (High prospect of seeing these in the future) etc.
“Where is space?”
There own a spaceship (that they can’t control) which travels through FTL & recharges itself by flying into a sun, there’s even going to be a space battle in the next episode I believe.
“Where are the planets?”
They have currently been on 4 different planets thus far.