From 2.3 million in October 2009 to 1.1 million viewers in May 2011, Stargate Universe has had something of a rough ride in the ratings over its 40 episodes. Here we’ll look at the good and the bad of the ratings race as we wrap up two years of SGU on Syfy Channel.
You can find our complete charts of the show’s ratings performance in the episode guide, for Season One and Season Two.
Note that all of these numbers are “Live + Same Day” — counting those who watch Syfy’s broadcast live, or record it on DVR and watch it before 3 a.m. that night. SGU typically gained between 40 and 50 percent on these numbers in the “Live + 7 Days” DVR ratings. Its total audience also includes international broadcasts, plus lots of online viewers, legal and illegal, both in the U.S. and around the world.
First, here’s how the final 10 episodes rated:
| EPISODE (air date) | VIEWERS (million) | CHANGE |
| Deliverance (Mar. 7) | 1.035 | |
| Twin Destinies (Mar. 14) | 0.928 | – 10% |
| Alliances (Mar. 21) | 0.814 | – 12% |
| Hope (Mar. 28) | 0.876 | + 8% |
| Seizure (Apr. 4) | 0.823 | – 6% |
| The Hunt (Apr. 11) | 1.020 | + 24% |
| Common Descent (Apr. 18) | 0.861 | – 16% |
| Epilogue (Apr. 25) | 1.092 | + 27% |
| Blockade (May 2) | 0.993 | – 9% |
| Gauntlet (May 9) | 1.134 | + 14% |
Next, an overall look at the half-season ratings averages:
| SEASON (aired) | VIEWERS (million) | CHANGE |
| Season 1.0 (Fall 2009) | 1.989 | |
| Season 1.5 (Spring 2010) | 1.445 | – 27% |
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Move to Tuesdays
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| Season 2.0 (Fall 2010) | 1.078 | – 25% |
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Move to Mondays
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| Season 2.5 (Spring 2011) | .958 | – 11% |
The Bad: A large percentage of viewers (43 percent) who checked out the 3-hour pilot episode “Air” had tuned out by the first mid-season break. The network’s attempts to find a new audience on Tuesdays was a failure, as SGU shed another 20 percent between the first season finale and the second season premiere. And when the series returned this spring for its final, post-cancellation run, it spent six of the last 10 episodes below the 1 million mark.
The Good: After those first 10 episodes, within each of its three half-seasons (each airing on a different night of the week) those ratings stayed pretty consistent. Once the series found its audience, it largely held on to it — changes of night and the cancellation news notwithstanding. After the drop-off that occurred during the first 10 episodes, the show lost the vast majority of its live viewership between seasons — not episode-to-episode, while the show was airing.
Anecdotally, we also know that — even if some SG-1 and Atlantis fans didn’t watch — Stargate Universe drew new fans who had never watched Stargate before.
Finally, here is the full breakdown for each half-season aired (in millions of viewers):
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SGU SEASON 1.0
Started: 2.346 million
Ended: 1.340 (– 43%)
Highest: 2.447 (“Air, Part 3”)
Lowest: 1.340 (“Justice”)
Average: 1.989 million
SEASON 1.5
Started: 1.486 million
Ended: 1.469 (– 1%)
Highest: 1.6 (“Divided”)
Lowest: 1.178 (“Incursion, Part 1”)
Average: 1.445 million
SEASON ONE (OVERALL)
Started: 2.346 million
Ended: 1.469 (– 37%)
Highest: 2.447 (“Air, Part 3”)
Lowest: 1.178 (“Incursion, Part 1”)
Average: 1.717 million
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SGU SEASON 2.0
Started: 1.175 million
Ended: 1.094 (– 7%)
Highest: 1.222 (“Awakening”)
Lowest: 0.967 (“Trial and Error”)
Average: 1.078 million
SEASON 2.5
Started: 1.035 million
Ended: 1.134 (+ 10%)
Highest: 1.134 (“Gauntlet”)
Lowest: 0.814 (“Alliances”)
Average: 0.958 million
SEASON TWO (OVERALL)
Started: 1.175 million
Ended: 1.134 (– 3%)
Highest: 1.222 (“Awakening”)
Lowest: 0.814 (“Alliances”)
Average: 1.018 million
Stargate Universe averaged 1.367 million live viewers over 40 episodes, airing on three different nights of the week. Its highest-rated episode was in week two, with the conclusion to the series premiere. Its lowest-rated episode was “Alliances,” the third episode of the post-cancellation run on Monday nights.
I really liked stargate universe!
Obviously like every other stargate fan i was skeptical throughout the first season because I was freaked out by the change in style but i think the series really came into it’s own league through the second season and i’ll always regard epilogue as one of my top 5 favourite stargate episodes! It’s a shame that it’s been cancelled because I really got into it!
How do I find out the ratings for the U.K?
I’m eagre to find out how the series done over here on Sky1!
Damn WTH! This entire saga was amazing! I cannot seriously believe the damn suits cut SGU from SyFy. You know, they put on fake Wrestling because of the viewership…. what the hell. Ever heard of “Stick to your Guns”? SyFy, you can suck it. I know its a business so change your name then sell outs…. this sucks… Gateworld, I have followed for years but now I am so upset I had to make a post abou this. Im still upset and cannot believe that one of the greatest if not the best series on TV is canceled. The ratings… Read more »
Sorry had to post gain.. the best option for all of us is demanding a REAL SyFy channel who sticks to their guns…. BS
So, remember what was in the SGU pilot before the first break? Gratuitous sex. (Hey, I like gratuitous sex, but that’s what the Internet is for. On the other hand, good sci-fi doesn’t grow on trees.) The whole “Stargate: 90210” thing was probably the least appealing aspect of the show for me, and as they gradually stopped hosing down the sets with testosterone, the series got a lot better. Unfortunately, it may have taken too long for them to settle on getting into the sci-fi and out of the soap opera (for example, the communication-stone-driven crap with Telford sleeping with… Read more »
“A large percentage of viewers (43 percent) who checked out the 3-hour pilot episode “Air” had tuned out by the first break.”
I wonder how common that is in the TV industry. Sounds like a really huge, huge figure. The sex scene was before the first break, though, right? That probably turned off a lot of TVs right there, with people not expecting that kind of thing from Stargate. /shrug
@Tekrelm
They don’t mean the first commercial break, they mean the first mid-season break. Air Part 3 actually got MORE viewers than the 2-parter the first week, which rarely happens in TV.
Lots of new shows start with a bang, then settle into a regular audience. SGU’s problem has been the SyFy channel itself, in that I don’t think it is possible for SyFy to pull 2+ million ratings numbers for a niche product like Science fiction anymore. I truly believe that if SGU had been on major networks it would have done considerably better. Even “V” and “The Event” have been cancelled with much higher ratings than SGU, even though those shows are no where near the quality of SGU. Lets hope somewhere down the track we’ll get a proper conclusion,… Read more »
@Imperious I wouldn’t hold out hope for a conclusion as the book on quality sci-fi(in this case outer space sci-fi) is closing for good. None of the studios or networks will pay the production cost anymore. Get used to low brow/quality drivel on the tube from now on. I just can’t believe that Sy-Fy is putting money behind BSG: Blood & Chrome. There is just no point to it what so ever. All prequal stuff is just garbage. Heck, even Caprica should have just been a mini-series that would have aired right between BSG season 4.0 and 4.5. SGU deserved… Read more »
Hi everyone to be fair i almost didnt give SGU an chance cos it was so different and we were kinda flung into it with new characters plus i was still a bit annoyed at the rather abrupt ending/cancellation of SGA perhaps this is yet another reason why SGU didnt get as many viewers that they would have liked and lets face it if anyone has a few brain cells like me most people are cautious about getting into a new show anyway and like me some will tend to wait until after its had a few seasons and it… Read more »
Also SGU was running at the same time as other big shows.
Air Part 3 was a big problem and was the culprit. People tuned in after seeing the promos of epic desert planet and the way Air Part 2 ended hinted at something awesome was about to take place. Instead Air Part 3 was about some random priest abortion thing and having a chemistry set in the desert. it bored the hell out of people. They shouldve introduced the main plot right there, a villain or something cool.
@ Duneknight there was a bit of a dropoff after Air III, but it’s normal for shows to drop after their pilot episodes. Season 1.0 was actually doing rather well, with almost all episodes 1.8, and most of them closer to 1.9. After “life” aired “Justice” took the fall the week after, losing over half a million viewers in one go, and right after that there was the mid-season hiatus, which in this case prohibited the ratings from rising to their previous level again. People left during Justice, and there wasn’t a show they could maybe try out again for… Read more »
“The network’s attempts to find a new audience on Tuesdays was a failure”
Yet another snipe at SyFy. How mature.
“Stargate Universe drew new fans who had never watched Stargate before.”
There is NO evidence that SGU drew in more new viewers than SG1 and SGA were. Back when SG1 and SGA were airing there were undoubtedly people discovering SG with every episode. Whether they stuck around as fans or not is a different matter. Based on ratings it seems that SGU didn’t manage to create a lot of new fans or hold on to old fans.
It never got the chance that s.g.a. Got s.g.a got the run in from s.g.1 which in turn got all the s.g.1 audience.if s.g.a did not get that run in and s.g.1 had have been canceled s.g.a would never have got a second season never mind five. So in conclusion the stargate fans are very fickle and scorn anything new.I on the other hand love true to life sci-fy and know the best show on the idiot box is gone only to be replaced by mind numbing crap and reality shows.does anyone know were I can get a good price… Read more »
mistergroenevingers | May 21 @ 9:17 am They have tried three of there established franchise on Tuesday or Monday night all 3 have failed to established an audience on those, Sanctuary, SGU, and Caprica. Being Human succeeded but look at the Nielson numbers you can see they obtain a difference audience to the above show. I think we can safely 3 out of 4 shows is a appalling rate of failure for shows involve with the experiment. An the one that did succeed is not Syfy normal audience. An is not even Sci fi. Wrestling is there highest rated show… Read more »
The episode that really plumeted SGU was “Life”. People were on edge by the heavy focus on drama in Season 1.0. People got some promising new directions with “Time” (an incredible episode), but we were flung straight back to HEAVY drama in “Life”… People left. And it’s sad because the show only improved from that point forward. Season 1.5 was more solid than 1.0, Season 2.0 more solid than any of Season 1. And then the final 10 episodes were simply incredible! It’s a shame, but there’s much to point the finger at starting with fans, the producers, and the… Read more »
actually its important to learn what went wrong so as to not repeat the same mistakes in the next stargate show or movie.
@ Duneknight: Important lesson #1: Do not announce the new show a couple days after the previous is cancelled. It creates bad-will. Originally SGU was supposed to air alongside SGA in the summer. End result: It did not air alongside SGA, and it did not air in the summer. Basically not one thing specifically, but everything went wrong. SGU wasn’t aired in the summer, and wasn’t aired alongside SGA, the fanbase was alienated because it seemed SGU replaced SGA, season 1.0 had too much focus on heavy drama ( far, far more than the other 3 halfseasons ), a badly… Read more »
@mistergroenevingers: It’s not a “swipe” at Syfy to make the observation that the Tuesday strategy didn’t work. Per Craig’s explicit statements, they wanted to expose the show to new viewers in the hope of rejuvenating the slipping ratings. The ratings went down. Ergo, the idea didn’t work.
“There is NO evidence that SGU drew in more new viewers than SG1 and SGA were.”
I made no such claim — simply that some people who had never watched any Stargate show before watched Universe. I also said “anecdotally.”
To clarify: 43% of the audience for “Air, Parts 1-2” had tuned out by the “first mid-season break” — not that episode’s first commercial break. I’ve updated the article above to make that more clear.
The simple fact is that the networks are pulling back spending on shows BIG time, so much so they are shooting themselves in the foot and loosing viewership to HBO and starz. Unless the show is a massive hit and stays there they are more likely to kill it than keep it. SGU was the best of all of the stargate shows. Punks ass moves like split seasons and airdate shifts just guarantee things don’t go well. Is there a comparison of available between new format purchases between SGA, SGU, SG1?
I have to agree with some comments above. If SGU aired with SGA on Friday nights, things would have been different. SGU was the best int eh whole series. IT could have had a new villain every galaxy. New adventures – new planets nightly. Not the same four memebrs going thru the eye like SG1 and fighting the same life suckers on SGA. I liked them all but SGU was the best by far. SYFY’s reasons for killing it like they did prove they wanna compete with the major networks and they must realize they can’t. SYFY has a loyal… Read more »
They should have left stargate on fridays airing in the summer schedule as it used to.
The buffons at syfy knew that moving it would cause a viewership drop just as has happened with sactuary. If they didnt know this then others should be running that network.
Watch or not, Either way your next favorite show will disappear and be replaced with cooking shows or wrestling.
Boycott syfy and send a message!But most of you wont. Youll just complain to each other and nothing will ever change.
The real write-in, email, facebook, twitter, etc. campaign should be to Netflix to pick up the show as part of their new original programming. If a significant portion of the community did so, then they may see the potential for new subscribers. Then, even the tech savy could join the count of viewers as Netflix would be offering online viewing that matters in the decision making process.
Thoughts Darren?
Awsome Bring in those new fans and swap out the tons of old ones who stopped watching because the show stopped being stargate.
They migh as well just called the show “Rumpelstiltskin gets lost in space with a ring thingy that spins”
and they still could have got the new people and do what ever they wanted since the show would have no stargate stuff on it.
They lost the point if they wanted to make a new show they should have just done it with out the stargate name on it.
@Darren
I know the story of the ratings and the changes in days and all. I also read your open letter to SyFy as well as the response you received. When I read this article about ratings it seemed straightforward and factual, until I reached the part where you said the networks attempts were a failure. It may be true but the tone there seems to stick out from the rest of the article. Also I think it’s unnecessary there. That’s why I picked it up as a snipe/swipe. But no harm done.
Syfy as a network is done. The have proven they will do anything to maximize short term profits, even if it means selling out their core audience. If the boycott (http://reformsyfynow.com) isn’t enough to stop them, someone will- another science fiction network (on tv or on the internet) will eventually emerge. Until than we all need to stick to our guns and completely tune out Syfy.
The pilot episode ruined the entire series for many viewers. They obviously didn’t know half their viewing audience was under age. Soon as the pilot started with sex – off went the TV. And who the hell has sex on an alien ship three minutes after arriving anyway!! Damn stupid pilot episode writing killed the entire series.
@Ekras “Sticking to my guns” is no problem. Their programming doesn’t make me wanna watch it so….heh no issue there. I had actually stopped watching syfy back when it was SciFi and Stargate made me watch it again. It’s a real shame that this show wasn’t aloud to make its run. SG-U lost audience because the first season was so drama heavy. But it was a slight drama so it had to be heavy for the first parts. It was starting to become more settled and more of a Stargate with drama, than a drama with Stargate. I think moving… Read more »
If only they made a better season 1 it would still be going now… it was far too slow thats all. They could of gave us more in each episode and less character development, we dont need to know the characters so quickly…
I hear SyFi is working on a new wrestling series with Chris Judge.
I hate it that SGU is done. But rather than complaining on here, we need to be e-mailing SyFy and MGM! We gotta get our Stargate back!
The farscape fans were brutal with syfy after it was cancelled by SYFY and ended up with a 2 part miniseries to wrap it all up. Boy, syfy sure has a good track record regarding cancelling good shows.
If fans would do the same with stargate we may get something.
I wished that some other network could of picked up SGU for season three like Sci Fi did for season Six of SG1. or the other thing is that there should be a tv network thats just for stargate. by that i mean all the speacials, all the movies and all the tv series as well for Stargate
Darren,
A lot of people have said they would not watch SyFy after the SGU cancellation. Perhaps it would be helpful document the erosion in viewers through ratings.
Might be useful to remind SyFy that there was a consequence to not having a Stargate series anymore.
If it wasnt for most of season one being so boring it may have kept its viewers. Season 2 specifically the second half was much improved and I would would have liked it to continue.
I think they sould have combined episodes such as Air and Water to speed up the story and the music video sequences were pointless not that they didnt look good just a waste of time and didnt really work.
Maybe we should have a more complete article of the ratings, which should include SD and SD+7 for all episodes. Also if we could find the numbers for DVD and Bluray sales, that would be great, although I doubt we will see any of those. This way we should be able to have a better picture of the impact of the day change. But we have to admit that the ratings at which SGU stabilized in the second season were below SGA and were also cancelation territory. Anecdotally, we also know some people gave the show the first season to… Read more »
ERRATA: “But we have to admit that the ratings at which SGU stabilized in the second season were below SGA and were also cancelation territory.”
should be
“But we have to admit that the ratings at which SGU stabilized in the second part of season 1 were below SGA and were also cancelation territory.”
I think there is a lot of SGU that can work, but it would take a meeting with the big guy. He not only shut down the show, but he shut down the franchise until they could come up with something else. SGU is not dead unless he is unwilling to listen. Now, First, let’s examine what is left of SGU. There should have been a civilization meeting by now, as the other franchises had many by the time they got into the second season. The others had their first encounter in the first episode. Let’s face it, Our big… Read more »
The figures reconfirm the charge many have always been making, that the show was dealt a death blow by a bunch of horrendously dull episodes in season 1.0 (i.e. first half of season 1).
This caused a 43% audience drop (43%!!!!) whereas even broadcast-night changes and cancellation only caused a single figures drop (which I reckon means had those 2 events not occurred its possible we would have seen at least a small audience rise).
I don’t think we should blame the plan, rather its execution, and in particular some plain lousy episodes at a pivotal time in show’s lifecycle.
WWE represents the current state of mind in the world. Dumb as a box of rocks. Mindless and numb in the soul. I guess SyFy has learned that you can’t give quality scipted shows anymore because most people do not understand the depth of a good science fiction. Must cater to the dummies…Watch Idiocracy…funny but true
This is no longer about saving “Stargate Universe” but is becoming a battle to bring “Stargate” back in some form as soon as possible. Stargate shows were a constant on the Syfy channel since 2001 and I find it hard to believe everyone abandoned it so quickly.
SGU fans, it is time for us to get serious about the efforts to save this show. We need one concerted effort in which we have some possibility of success. That effort does not involve the SyFy channel. They lost faith in SGU as a profit maker long ago. Therefore, we must look elsewhere. We need to look to Netflix. Netflix is looking to start making original programming and SGU would be a great opportunity for them and us as sci-fi fans for several reasons. Why SGU makes sense for Netflix: 1. SGU already has a fan base. They do… Read more »
I’m not sure why sex scenes freaked everyone out so much. It was hardly a focal point for the show at all and actually helped contribute to the suspension of disbelief. The characters were real people with real problems and human urges, unlike the near archetypal nature of characters past. I like old Stargate, but SGU was something worth exploring too.
Don’t know why people were freaked out by the sex. While I feel it was done to much, it didn’t freak me out, I mean, Stargate SG-1 had nudity in the original pilot! You can’t pinpoint one single problem for why it was canceled. I’m sure its a combination of both the writing and the scheduling by SyFy. At the same time, doesn’t everyone say “most sci-fi shows take 2-3 years to really settle and get good” yet apparently people weren’t willing to give it that chance or to at least come back and see how much it improved. If… Read more »
There was a very simple reason the show was canceled: it wasn’t good. People didn’t follow it, didn’t buy the DVDs, didn’t DVR that much.
If we consider the ratings from Friday for SGU good enough, which were not, then we have very good reason to call liars everyone who says that SGA was canceled because of low ratings. Since we didn’t have a raise in DVR after the move to Tuesday, people just gave up on it.
@Browncoat1984 I agree with what you say, anyway I have been mouth dropping since I read “people were freaked out by the sex”. Really? I wonder what do they have to say about Spartacus. It’s a pity some people didn’t gave it a chance, even though some of them (who keep criticising the show that has already been cancelled xD As if they need to spend day after day here trying to convince us SGU was terrible cos their opinion is the one and only truth) admit to have been watching the entire SGU… 1st season was bad, boring. But… Read more »
I am fairly sure that calling names the persons that offer criticism in a constructive manner for a show can only attract a larger following to SGU, currently a cult status show (not!). So some people that didn’t like SGU, but are still fans of Stargate, want to talk about Stargate. And they didn’t like the direction the PTW took the franchise. Last I checked GW was a show about Stargate, not SGU, although there was a time one would think otherwise. People weren’t scared of the sex scenes, they were disgusted by the pointless sex scenes. People didn’t object… Read more »
What’s going to happen to Syfy channel when one of the big networks wakes up and realizes it could easily outbid Syfy and take wrestling? As for defending the Syfy business execs as just doing what is right for their business.. I don’t think so. The SciFi channel (remember them?) was built on a niche market. Sure, it’s niche, any channel limited to that market has a limit to it’s growth. That limit comes with a benefit too. Lack of competition. SciFi was started by a small, local cable company. They weren’t going to have the resources to compete with… Read more »
Hahaha BSG wanna be killed science fiction? Hahahaha So funny you criticise space operas when Star Wars, 2001 odyssey, Blade Runner… xD So in the end what lacked in SGU was another O’Neill clone Like Sheppard in SGA? Or is it that is not interesting to watch the possible evolution of humans beings in a situation like SGU evolve? Oh yeah, I forgot about the disgusting sex scenes… Awesome they were sooooo, soooo… They were soooo that I can’t remember just 1 sex scene xD Like the saying: “Haters gonna hate”. you will just get to anything to keep criticising… Read more »