Ratings for Stargate Universe grew in its second week, with the final hour of the 3-part series premiere drawing 2.4 million viewers. This according to Syfy Channel, who first announced the info today via Twitter.
“Stargate Universe grew in its second week, with a massive 22 percent gain in Adults 18-49, 13 percent in adults 25-54, and about 2.4 million total viewers,” Syfy’s Craig Engler wrote. Engler is the senior VP of Syfy Digital.
The network followed up with an official press release, confirming the 1.8 average household rating.
“I can’t emphasize enough how impressive it is for a show to grow from its premiere,” Engler said. “That’s pretty rare.”
It is rare indeed, as the general rule for television series is to have a higher season or series premiere — thanks in part to the additional advertising dollars spent. With some notable exceptions, ratings typically start to fall off immediately. For a show to improve on its premiere numbers is a great sign.
SGU also beat a new episode of Dollhouse, for the second week running.
The 2-hour premiere averaged 2.35 million viewers on October 2, for a 1.7 Nielsen rating. DVR-delayed numbers are expected to boost this significantly when they are released in another week or two.
In other news, the season premiere of Sanctuary — which followed SGU on Friday night — was up 18 percent in adults 18 to 49 and 7 percent in adults 25 to 54 from its first season average, according to Engler. 1.85 million viewers watched “End of Nights, Part 1.”
Stargate Universe airs Fridays at 9 p.m. (8 Central) on Syfy. Learn more about this week’s episode, “Darkness,” in GateWorld’s Season One episode guide!
NEXT: Read the full press release
AWESOME NEWS! While it may not be a great increase, it didn’t drop AT ALL. That is a great accomplishment. Great to hear this. :D
Seems like the show is safe.
Awesome! Fantastic news! Well done SGU!
Well I guess the naysayers got it wrong.
Glad and to see see an increase in ratings, word must of gotten out at how good the premiere was resulting in more tuning in to see part 3.
[…] Re: Stargate Universe News: SGU got a higher rating this week and it did last week for the premiere. Source: GateWorld Universe grows audience for Week 2 […]
-see
Considering that Part 3 (imho) was even better than parts 1 and 2, this is a great sign! The curious stayed, a few new people came in, the show delivered, and I’m fairly certain people will be coming back for more. Heck, I know I will be and a whole group of friends I know (+20).
[…] Most TV shows see a drop in the ratings after a premiere due to viewers who are curious enough to watch the pilot and then come to believe the show is not what they were looking for. Stargate Universe has contradicted that trend, GROWING 22% among viewers ages 18-49 and 13% in the 25-54 age range. Total growth is 4%, just short of 2.5 million viewers across the US alone (SyFyWire). This earned SGU a 1.8 average household rating from Nielsen (Gateworld.net). […]
Season 2? Sounds good from the likes of this!
Season 2 is a given. Not just for ratings but also because SyFy is a minor cable channel, and nothing has proved to work better than Stargate on Fridays, so they’re gonna keep it for three seasons at least, IMO. Also, 2.4! Eat that haters! SGU is amazing. Not not lose anyone from the premier but instead have the ratings grow is just amazing. Period. And it’s Fall season, not Summer, let’s all remember this! SGU on summer would have been even a biggest blast, but that fact that it’s gathering 2.4 live audience on Fall just shows you how… Read more »
Whilst I am pleased to hear this, fan from it’s genesis, I will reserve judgement on ratings for a few months when we are in the middle portion of the show.
I am a fan, since the beginning, and will continue to watch SGU, however, it isn’t blowing my skirt up… as for that character Greer – He annoys the living daylights out of me, and that is enough to actually put me off a show.
Greer annoys anyone, but I think we’ve all got someone who is just like him, don’t we? lol Btw, I forgot to add something to my reasoning, and it is that, if they kept the last three seasons of SGA with 1.low ratings, they’re definitely gonna have three seasons (at elast) of SGU. :)
I watched Air 3, because I wanted to like it, but it still has not blown my socks off. The ratings are not suprising tbh, they did pretty good on promoting with some good sg1 characters and actors talking in favor of the show. I give it 3 maybe 4 seasons for them to pull the plug. after all this is Stargate Galactica Universe. They will never go all the way.
Just wish they had an opening sequence set to the music from the last few moments of the show. The techno-beat was interesting and the music conveyed the urgency of the scene very well.
That being said, a massive improvement that was deserved as the episode was a massive improvement over the first two parts. Give me more subtle character development and less recycled Sci-Fi melodrama. Hopefully the BSG-ification is over.
Am I missing something here? Did everyone take a codeine before they watched that last ep? Seriously!… I want to like this show… I had very high hopes for it, but good god, come on already. The FX blew, the black guy is a worthless antagonist waste of space, the planet was sand, Jack didn’t crack 1 joke, the dying guy uses the body switch device(give me a break), noone has any regard for teamwork (and I realize that was a point the writers wanted, but it sucks!!), and the air thing was underwhelming… everyone is breathing fine until the… Read more »
The FX blew, Why not the best, they are adequate enough for the show. I rather they spent the FX budget on the aliens and environments. the black guy is a worthless antagonist waste of space, An so was Ronon when he came to Atlantis, they never actually did stories around it. the planet was sand, Better than the Canadian forests, I square I can even recognise which trees appears in which episode now. Jack didn’t crack 1 joke, About bloody time, you do not rise to one of the most important posts in the US military by cracking jokes… Read more »
Am I mistaken that ATLANTIS was cancelled for better ratings than 1.8? And that was episode 1. HA, HA, HA……. Crash and Burn. But I’m still watching. The character interaction sux.
and…. syfy is still premiering Caprica which sold only 50K DVD’s by telling a story which THE OUTER LIMITS already told and Atom Boy already told etc.,etc.,etc… I’m glad BBCA is gearing up for some more sci-fi….
Great. Acting. end of story.
Greer = great acting. I would not like the guy in ‘real life’, but he plays his character perfectly.
Characters don’t interact? These characters are actually believable! (case in point being Rodney McKay being able to solve everything in 2 minutes…. c’mon).
It’s funny, we’ve been watching a show about the military for 15 years, but when we actually get REAL military characters like Greer, Young, and Scott, everyone gets up in arms!?
It’s also really hard to beat Dollhouse LOL.
They only want to get a lot of people to watch the show because they have done 20 episodes and they need to get the money in.
Lets see if it get a Session 2 for now it looks not good.
@ flmatthew You’re mistaken indeed. GW has ratings summary, and there you’ll see SGA was cancelled for getting around 1.0 on both 4th and 5th seasons. 1.0 in summer is very low. 1.8 in Fall is absolutely astonishing coming from SyFy.
[…] Universe News: SGU got a higher rating this week than it did for the premiere. Source: GateWorld Universe grows audience for Week 2 Last edited by Tanith; 19 Hours Ago at 04:57 […]
I think the credit goes to all the people who DVRed it, watched it on Hulu or in some other way, liked it, and made sure they caught the next episode. I would have watched it either way but I didn’t catch the first episode when it aired.
I have to agree with the posters who said that they really wanted to like SGU but just couldn’t get into it. I cannot watch it – just BG redux. So,there were things and characters that stretched credulity in SG-1 and SGA, but isn’t that what science fiction is all about? Maybe the relationships will eventually gel here, but there is nothing like the humor and camaraderie in the former two series – sorry, but I miss that and am very sadly not interested in SGU.
/signed
stargatecommand, heh… Id rather have 3-4 seasons of a good show then 5 season of ****… Atlantis was good for the first 3 seasons, then they just went south with each episode… Im happy that the creators of BSG realized this and ended the show before it was turned into one of those mexican dramas with 500 episodes of crap… One of the best examples of a good Sci-Fi show going **** is Smallville… I for once dont want this show to have 10 seasons of garbage… PS. The new epi did great)) Cheers, Im sure the ratings will go… Read more »
i don’t get it. How on earth does this remind people of battlestar. What? Just because it’s handheld camera work and some spaceship. If so, does that mean every future sci-fi show about a ship in space is just going to be a battlestar redux. Whatever.
Isn’t Air 3 part of the premier?, the concluding part so why all the hype about it getting more than the premier. It was the concluding part to the premier. How can ratings that arent all that higher than SGA’s be suddenly wonderful. Every show will lose ratings after the first season but SGU’s are still below SGA’s first season. SGA received 2.00 million viewers for Eatg and somehow 2.35 for a premier is considered great. An increase from 1.7HH to a 1.8HH doesnt seem all that stellar considering the huge budget SGU has received.
@ Outbreaker: Doesn’t look good? They got more viewers on this last episode then on the first. How can that not be good?! And they did really good internationally two. @blackhawlk: SGA was beat by SGU in the premier numbers. And SGU got more viewers on the second episode(third) then on the first, that didn’t happen to SGA. That actually doesn’t happen to allot of shows. So yes, that’s GREAT! @JT: No, that’s not what Sci-fi is all about. The science is the thing that can be wild and crazy and do everything. The characters are still supose to be… Read more »
I’ve said my piece, and now at peace. This is a huge failed attempt, if you consider the funds poured into it for production and Promotion. I really have no idea where the heck they got the part 3 numbers from, since Nielsen has no record of it. As some one else mentioned it, Part 3 is still a part of the Premier, not a separate episode, and they still keep comparing it to ratings after 2nd Season of Atlantis. So all in all, Atlantis so massivly Great in the first season, because it did not have the advantages of… Read more »
maybe i’m missing something but the word “awesome” does seem to be getting used alot. let’s be honest with ourselves here it’s a reasonable start, no more. i agree that there’s no point comparing it to atlantis or bitching all the time because it’s gone because it is and that’s not going to change. if we’re being honest again there are good reasons why the viewing figures for atlantis were dropping at the end. the last two seasons were substandard and we all know it. however, this new show must live or die on it’s own merits. so far it’s… Read more »
@US06154: Part 3 was aired a week later=separate episode. Don’t kid yourself. And even if it was a part of the premier, what’s your point??? More people watched the third episode then the first two. And just for the record, Atlantis had the advantage of SG1 still being on the air when it debuted. SGU had the problem with SGA going of the air before SGU premiered, which made allot of SGA fans hate SGU before it even started. Which resulted in that those people refused to even give SGU a chance. Hence lower ratings then SGA premiere.
@Nikset 100% agree. Atlantis was first aired while SG-1 was still going on so there wasn’t any reason for why they wouldn’t give it a chance. SGA cancellation and the fact that it is a new premise put SGU at a disadvantage ratings wise before it was even aired since there were a good number who were still pissed about SGA and refused to watch. But since part 3 (which was a separate episode since it aired a week after parts 1&2)got a higher rating does say something and suggests that SGU will be a hit. What normally happens is… Read more »
I don’t want realism, I want science FICTION!
Characters should stay in character.
I don’t care who sucked on Atlantis.
Nothing but sand is as boring as it sounds.
And a man who has multiple severe injuries, half way to the grave would not switch bodies entrusting who knows who with its charge.
Though I appreciate your retort…
@Cheapshot: Actually a LEADER, in charge of people’s lives WOULD take the risk of him getting hurt to find out how he can get them home. Thats why they are leaders, thats his duty.
their, not his*
mmm lets see csi miami, ncis, bones and dwts bring in numbers from 12 to 24 million viewers even true blood and the tudors on cable bring in numbers now thats what i call ratings .. 1.8 now that will suck on broadcast tv and the show will get cancelled asap. i do wish the show the best of luck as far as i can see the show most likely will get picked up for another season sy fy seems to be very excited for there 1.8 ratings.
Am listening to your pod-cast and laughing. These “communication stones” are just stupid. They require no power and work from any old place. It is laughable. 3 hours of Sand and some worms would be DUNE. I love fun sci-fi shows like SG1 was. If SGU was to be completely different then NO ONE from the old series should have appeared because then we expect SGU to be like the prior series. You can’t mix em together and expect us to accept different. For 2mil an episode I am disappointed.
@flmathhew SGU was never meant to be completely different since it is still Stargate. Appearances from the likes of O’Neill show that all 3 shows are in the same time line and are the aspects that would appeal to those who are already fans of the franchise and judging by the ratings increase it does. But the way the show is shot/its premise etc is clearly different from the 2 previous shows which is what they intended. They wanted SGU to go a different direction to do something new and to open up new people to the franchise but still… Read more »
You just said again that they wanted to go in a different direction. If that is the case then you can’t mix the old people in as they don’t represent this new direction. Would their characters now act differently? I’m not saying that I will not watch like some people do. I will watch in hopes that it gets better but don’t insult our intelligence with stupid stories and magic stones (or beans).
@flmatthew seeing some of the old people makes seance since there high up in the chain of command. So O’Neill would be Young’s superior hence who he would report to. Need to keep in mind that even though its a new show with a different way of doing things that it is still Stargate. In Air part 3 O’Neill mentions the first trip through the Stargate which hasn’t been mentioned in a very long time. Also what he said about when you get down to it that none of them are truly qualified made seance and fitted in well. I… Read more »
@flmatthew: You are aware that what you call magic stones/beans come from SG1??? So unless you are complaining about the stupidity of the entire franchise don’t bother using it as an argument for SGU being stupid as opposed to SG1.
I think people should give this show a chance. Go back and watch the first 10 episodes of SG1. Some of those were not the greatest. I think the special effects are pretty good. It’s going to take some time for the writers and the actors to find there footing.
well for the cost it not good at all, but see want happens next week as than it new epiosde as part 3 is part of the other 2 and even when you don’t like something you still want to know want happened, also SGA never got 1.0 rating, belive the lowest was 1.1 or 1.2 not much, and as premier of season 1 got I belive 2.0 or 2.1 rating, show these not that good at all.
also am wrong it got 3.2 rating
@law7441: Why would the number of viewers INCREASE if it ONLY were people who wanted to find out what happens on the next episode that tuned in on episode three? If the number increases that means that the show got NEW people watching the third episode. And THAT is really good, that doesn’t happen often. Neither SG1 nor SGA did that, having the second episode get more viewers than the pilot. Plus it beat some records internationally as well. There’s no way to deny that its going well for SGU
Oh and by the way, about the argument “it costs 2 million to make each episode, so the ratings aren’t good enough” well that’s got nothing to do with the show itself has it? That’s just poor marketing. It’s one thing if the show got good ratings in the pilot and then later having the ratings drop. That MIGHT show that the show is not well received. But that’s not what happened, in fact the exact opposite happened, the ratings increased.
I wish the show was better. I wasn’t very happy with the 3 part premiere. SG1 and SGA had way more techno-babble and mythology which is what i liked about them. Stuff about the egypian gods, ancients, hyperdrive tech, beaming tech, etc. In the premiere of Atlantis Dr Jackson went into detail about the 8 chevron address and the scientists went into detail about the science part of it. SGU totally blazed right over that kind of stuff. It was like oh, yeah by the way the gate can dial 9 chevrons. The 3 hour premiere was slow too. In… Read more »
I speak Spanish so I´m trying to explain as well as I can:I´m a crazy fan for SG1 and SA. I was highly excited with SU but I´m so disappointed…Special effects was great as always but it was born! No suspense,very dark in general. Many,many actors, the sex escene what for? The enemy ships: who was in them? People remembered when they were on Earth, it´s ok to introduce the actors but please not all the season!!! Only at the end of the 3º part an small alien ship appeared and took off so , I waited for the 4º… Read more »