Ratings drop!

[caty]

I just read the article that Atlantis' mid season finale only had an average rating of 1.7!!
That is the lowest so far and now I am afraid they might think of cancelling the show...

I am aware that there was more competition from other networks, but should the ratings drop that much?

[knowsfords]

They won't cancel it, you don't have to worry.

[Atlantis Man]

yea as long as we're around nothing should happen........... at least i hope

[prion]

[QUOTE=caty]I just read the article that Atlantis' mid season finale only had an average rating of 1.7!!
That is the lowest so far and now I am afraid they might think of cancelling the show...

I am aware that there was more competition from other networks, but should the ratings drop that much? [/

The article said:

//The 2-part mid-season finale of Stargate Atlantis tied the show's lowest ratings ever on Friday, September 23. "Aurora" and "The Lost Boys" averaged a 1.7 household rating from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern / Pacific.

This is a drop of only one-tenth of a point from SG-1's 2-hour performance in the same time slot the previous week, and two-tenths of a point from the last Atlantis episode on September 9. It also ties the show's lowest rating in its 14-month history, set by Season One's "Home" last September.//

A 1.7 rating is probablya cceptable for a network such as SciFi. On a real network, it would be a death knell for sure. For some unfathomable reason, Skiffy put its new season finales (SG1 suffered ratings losses too) against BRAND NEW shows that CBS, Fox, etc. have pushed the wazoo out of. I've tried THRESHOLD but think it's not as hot as they think it is (SURFACE Is a lot more fun, an NBC show).

I'd actually like to see MediaSavant's take on this, as MediaSavant knows more about the ratings than anybody else on this site.

[SnoggingPicard]

I wouldn't worry too much -- Atlantis was going up against brand new episodes of lots of network shows, and Sci-fi expects a lower share of the audience as it is.

[the Fifth Race]

I just read the article that Atlantis' mid season finale only had an average rating of 1.7!!
That is the lowest so far and now I am afraid they might think of cancelling the show...

I am aware that there was more competition from other networks, but should the ratings drop that much?

That has alot to do with most of netwroks debuting there season premieres last week. I would'nt worry to much, when the season starts back up in December the rating will rise again.

[Shep]

if you care about the show and the ratings concern you even the slightest bit, spend a few minutes, along with the cost of a stamp and an envelope or postcard, and drop Skiffy a line. tell them that you watch the show and are anxious for the season's return. maybe toss in a comment about an advertiser that you like. be proactive about your show.

[NowIWillDestroyAbydos]

You know if SciFi started the season in June, midseason would begin in Late August or Early September, and we wouldn't have so much Competion from the shows on ABC, NBC, etc.

[sarge]

Do ya suppose it has anything to do with another major hurricane hitting the gulf coast? Don’t know about the rest of ya’ll but we was just a tad busy….
Thank god for DVR’s ---hey do they count for ratings?

[FoolishPleasure]

Do ya suppose it has anything to do with another major hurricane hitting the gulf coast? Don’t know about the rest of ya’ll but we was just a tad busy….
Thank god for DVR’s ---hey do they count for ratings?

Good point - I kept switching to CNN/Weather Channel, etc. on commercials, other folks with family or friends in harms way probably were not the least bit interested in SGA that night. Would be interesting to see if other channels had ratings dips as well.

[Arative]

Yeah lots of factors hurt the ratings, new shows on the major networks + hurricane Rita making the power go out in a lot of Texas and Lousiana. I think Houston is like the 4th or 5th largest city in the US, population wise and with a lot of Houston in power outages, I can see where the ratings drop came from.

[MediaSavant]

I just read the article that Atlantis' mid season finale only had an average rating of 1.7!!
That is the lowest so far and now I am afraid they might think of cancelling the show...

I am aware that there was more competition from other networks, but should the ratings drop that much?

1.) SciFi's programmers were well aware of the competition and would include that in their expectation of the performance of the episode.
2.) A drop of a tenth of a point or two tenths of a point for an individual episode do not instigate concerns. It would take a string of them to cause concern. It wasn't a big drop considering the competition. And a 1.7 isn't bad to begin with. SG-1 got ratings continually in that area during its first season on SciFi.
3.) You would have to know what the ratings performance was for the Adults 25-54 demo or Adult 18-49 demo was to really judge how the show did. Advertisers buy based on demographic ratings, not household ratings. It's always possible that the core demographic audience for the show stuck with it and most of the losses were in what can be referred to as "secondary demos".

[MediaSavant]

Thank god for DVR’s ---hey do they count for ratings?

Not yet. DVR's required technological adjustments to the meters that Nielsen uses. They will be rolled into the ratings in January as they install the new machines they had to build for them.

Currently DVR's represent only 8% of the population, though, and some studies from Tivo seem to indicate that DVR owners watch similar shows to non-DVR owners. The highest rated show in the Tivo universe is usually the exact same show as the highest rated show in the non-Tivo universe.

VCR's do get included since that technology has been around for years and 95% of the population has them.

[sarge]

Not yet. DVR's required technological adjustments to the meters that Nielsen uses. They will be rolled into the ratings in January as they install the new machines they had to build for them.

Guess that means I haven’t “watched” any episodes this season
'course I don't have Nielsen meter either so I guess I just don't count at all

[MediaSavant]

Guess that means I haven’t “watched” any episodes this season
'course I don't have Nielsen meter either so I guess I just don't count at all

That's not the right way to look at statistics. Only a census attempts to count EVERYONE.

All statistical surveys, whether done for presidential polls or done by Nielsen, attempt to get a representative sample of the population that's large enough to be relatively accurate.

Ever notice in the Stargate polls here that after a certain number of responses have been logged, the results start to not change much as more people "vote". Statistical sampling works the same way. On election night, notice that they are able to "call" the results even before all the votes have been counted. That's statistics.

You may not be in the panel, but there is someone else in it that *is* watching Stargate and getting counted. And each person that does, represents is projected up to be the representative 12-15,000 other people.

[prion]

1.)
3.) You would have to know what the ratings performance was for the Adults 25-54 demo or Adult 18-49 demo was to really judge how the show did. Advertisers buy based on demographic ratings, not household ratings. It's always possible that the core demographic audience for the show stuck with it and most of the losses were in what can be referred to as "secondary demos".

Believe those stats were in the http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?t=18200 (Scifi press release on ratings thread) I just posted today, so maybe you can analyze there?

[majortrip]

Yeah lots of factors hurt the ratings, new shows on the major networks + hurricane Rita making the power go out in a lot of Texas and Lousiana. I think Houston is like the 4th or 5th largest city in the US, population wise and with a lot of Houston in power outages, I can see where the ratings drop came from.

Houston is the 4th largest city in the US with a population of about 4 million in Houston proper, and another 1.5 million in the suburbs/surrounding areas. I was in the mandatory evacuation, and 2.4 to 2.7 million people in the area evac'd, mandatory or not. Yes, thank the gods for DVRs.

Anyway, aside from the storm, the other major networks debuted scifi shows that will compete with SciFi network's for the ratings. IMHO, the other networks only got scifi programs because of the success of SG-1, SGA, and BSG. Anyway, if people missed an episode this season, it will be on in repeats or in some marathon before the back half of the season airs, so there's no rush the watch the original broadcast.

[majortrip]

2.) A drop of a tenth of a point or two tenths of a point for an individual episode do not instigate concerns. It would take a string of them to cause concern. It wasn't a big drop considering the competition. And a 1.7 isn't bad to begin with. SG-1 got ratings continually in that area during its first season on SciFi.
3.) You would have to know what the ratings performance was for the Adults 25-54 demo or Adult 18-49 demo was to really judge how the show did. Advertisers buy based on demographic ratings, not household ratings. It's always possible that the core demographic audience for the show stuck with it and most of the losses were in what can be referred to as "secondary demos".

Very informative. Thank you.

[MediaSavant]

Believe those stats were in the http://forum.gateworld.net/showthread.php?t=18200 (Scifi press release on ratings thread) I just posted today, so maybe you can analyze there?

That's a good press release.

You can see how pleased they are with this September's results. That's another thing people have to remember is that they often don't compare September ratings to August or July. They are always trying to improve compared to the previous year at the same time of year.

Here's another article about how cable, in general, did last week against network competition.

http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/...rticle_346.asp

[Darth Buddha]

Currently DVR's represent only 8% of the population, though, and some studies from Tivo seem to indicate that DVR owners watch similar shows to non-DVR owners. The highest rated show in the Tivo universe is usually the exact same show as the highest rated show in the non-Tivo universe.

Citing the highest rated program as validation of the representativeness of a sampling scheme is a chump argument. The largest component is always the easiest to detect. Even a BAD sampling scheme often works when that is the evaluation criterion.

It doesn't work so well when it is not. For example, in October 2004, it was announced that Enterprise was the 25th most popular Season Pass on the TiVo television recording system in the United States. That's a major deviation from the current rating system's raking.

That's not the right way to look at statistics. Only a census attempts to count EVERYONE.

No, in this particular instance, that's the wrong way to look at SAMPLING THEORY and SURVEY DESIGN. The statistics involved don't really go beyond the Central Limit Theorem.

On election night, notice that they are able to "call" the results even before all the votes have been counted.

You'll note that this practice has been largely abandoned. Why? Because their sampling turned out not to be representative enough and elections were "called" incorrectly. The best statistics in the world don't get you anywhere if your sampling scheme is flawed.

So I don't find the platitude about correlation of top performers in a potential 8% of households all that comforting. The lack of DVR info is a major validation flaw in the current ratings system.