“Human” did set a new low for the show, with 1.313 million viewers on Friday. But SGU rebounded significantly the next week, with 1.587 million for “Lost.”
Last week also marked the first time that SGU‘s lead-out series, Merlin, beat it in the Friday night ratings — though Stargate won in the coveted Adults 18 to 49-year-old demographic.
Here’s the full chart of the season so far, starting with the fall:
| EPISODE (air date) | VIEWERS (million) | CHANGE |
| Air, Part 1 (Oct. 2) | 2.346 | |
| Air, Part 2 (Oct. 2) | 2.346 | |
| Air, Part 3 (Oct. 9) | 2.447 (season high) | + 3% |
| Darkness (Oct. 16) | 2.099 | – 14% |
| Light (Oct. 23) | 2.015 | – 4% |
| Water (Oct. 30) | 1.974 | – 2% |
| Earth (Nov. 6) | 1.626 | – 18% |
| Time (Nov. 13) | 1.802 | + 11% |
| Life (Nov. 20) | 1.891 | + 5% |
| Justice (Dec. 2) | 1.340 | – 29% |
For the second half of the season, so far:
| EPISODE (air date) | VIEWERS (million) | CHANGE |
| Space (Apr. 2) | 1.486 | + 11% |
| Divided (Apr. 9) | 1.600 | + 8% |
| Faith (Apr. 16) | 1.422 | – 11% |
| Human (Apr. 23) | 1.313 (season low) | – 8% |
| Lost (Apr. 30) | 1.587 | + 21% |
| Sabotage (May 7) | 1.391 | – 12% |
None of these numbers include DVR-delayed “Live + 7” data. Until that data is in, we won’t know just how much of its fall audience the show has lost in 2010 and how much shifted to viewing a recorded episode later in the week. For the first half of the season, those numbers added nearly 47 percent to SGU’s viewership, putting it in fifth place in Nielsen’s list of the shows which gain the most from DVR-delayed viewing (as a percentage of their premiere night audience) (story).
For the first half of the season, the series averaged 2.57 million viewers per week, with DVR data factored in (story).
The lower ratings for the second half of the season aren’t entirely unexpected, as any new series typically garners higher numbers for its premiere and tapers off from there to settle into its weekly average.
The numbers may also partially explain Syfy’s decision to give SGU a shot at the more watched and more competitive Tuesday night, starting with the Season Two premiere in October (story). (The network’s highest-rated original dramas, Warehouse 13 and Eureka, air on Tuesdays during the summer months.)
With the notable exception of last Friday, Universe has stayed on top for Syfy’s Friday night shows in 2010, drawing more viewers than either Caprica or Merlin.
Just four hours remain for SGU‘s freshman year. Don’t miss this week’s new episode, “Pain,” Friday night at 9 p.m. (8 Central) on Syfy!
Source: TVbytheNumbers and PIFeedback.com
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View Comments
I hate to repeat it, but we were told this was supposed to just keep getting better. SGA fanbase + new audience = ? With only a couple of episodes left in the season how are they going to be able to grow those numbers?
"Life" harmed SGU,
-29% in "Justice" :(
Glad to see they are going to be trying another night. Friday just didn't seem like a good night. I don't think Warehouse 13 is better than SGU or Caprica...so hopefully the change of nights will help. Tuesdays may be a good night, but I also wonder if the ratings of Warehouse 13 and Eureka aren't as high as they are because they are on Tuesdays during the summer. I'd be curious to see how well Warehouse 13 and Eureka fared during another part of the year, and how well SGU and Caprica would do over the summer.
While I don't mind Warehouse 13... it has the feel of a comedic drama than anything. The only thing it's missing is a laugh track.
SGU, while not exactly like SG1 and SGA (which incidentally is a *good* thing), is more gritty and about emotions and acting more than witty one-liners. But the public is fickle and collectively dumb, so tv shows have to cater to that. Hence every single dumb reality tv show on american channels.
"The lower ratings for the second half of the season aren’t entirely unexpected, as any new series typically garners higher numbers for its premiere and tapers off from there to settle into its weekly average."
WHAT??? SGU's second half got less viewers than Stargate Atlantis in its 5. season! It isn't "typically" that a new series lose so many viewers so fast. SGA's season 5 average is 1.6 million viewers live + same day. The second half of season 5 got even 1.7 million viewers live + SD. The live + SD average for the second half of season 1 of SGU is so far ONLY 1.467 million viewers.
It is VERY bad that a NEW series gets in its first season already worst ratings than a five year old series, which it replaced!
And even Merlin got more viewers for the last episode and Merlin aired later in the evening than SGU. Merlin is also a cheaply imported series from the UK, which were shown there months ago, so that many fans have probably already downloaded the episodes, before they were shown on Syfy.
And that SGU's ratings are better than those from Caprica, don't mean very much. Caprica's ratings are horrible.
Soo can someone explain to me if this is good or bad? lol. Im no good at this stuff. This tells how many people are watching destiny every week? How do they count that, do our tellies transmit back to them? Anyway it looks pretty good if its millions watching lol
It's truly unfortunate, since the 2nd half of the season has been incredibly strong. Loving the direction of the show!
Truly unfortunate. I think that many where turned off with the first half of the season and did not return. The second half has been really good.
@jeanette178
It is hard to imagine these ratings being spun as a good thing. SGU was promoted as a show that could bring in new viewers to the Stargate franchise. Now, it appears that SGU is going to have the lowest season average rating of any Stargate show ever on Sci-fi (or SyFy). This is definitely bad news for Universe and the Stargate franchise. While it may seem like a lot, a bare million viewers is not a good thing. Even on cable.
Moreover, next season it is being bumped from the traditional home of science fiction, Friday night, so it can go head to head with American Idol, NCIS, and Dancing with the Stars on Tuesdays. Yikes.
Darren, it seems you were right about the bump the show receives with the Live + 7 day numbers. I just read this on Joe M's blog:
"Hmmm. Looking over these live+7 numbers. Human, the last episode charted, received a whopping 47% bump from time-shifted viewers, the biggest to date. That’s almost half our audience! I guess that’s what you get for having a techy fanbase."