SCI FI Ratings Drop

[prion]

Well, I'm going to throw my into 90% of it is because of downloading, 10% is because SciFi has killed the momentum of the whole thing by not having SG1-SGA-BSG Friday nights.

Just my opinion, but I have to admit I downloaded and then didn't watch consistently on Friday night. Then again, I'm not a Neilsen household, so I have no effect one way or another. Airing the new shows on different days (or worse yet, months!) in the US, Canada, and the UK is going to lead to downloading. A certain percentage of people (like me) are simple not going to resist the temptation.

SciFi should have the intelligence to realize that it's 'geeky' audience IS capable of downloading episodes. Many people, young people especially, have no qualms. They're the "I want it now" generation and don't want to wait six months for an episode.

But many viewers just don't have an attention span and when a show disappears off the schedule, well, they find something else to watch. Without proper advertising (and not just on SciFi), many people probably aren't aware the show is back.Or, maybe the old adage of 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' just doesn't cut it after a six month wait and you go 'that's it? that's what I waited for? eh, I like this show on this other network better.'

Meanwhile, this quote is from the latest NBC-Univeral newsletter, putting a spin on their ratings, despite what other articles say:

and SCI FI Boasts Strong First Quarter With Double Digit Increases Among
Younger Men And Women.

Adults 18-34 (up 18%), Men 18-34 (up 14%) and Women 18-34 (up 26%) in year over year comparisons.

[brihana25]

Calm down, guys... Just because the ratings dropped abit doesn't mean that they'll be cutting the show for sure. (If I'm wrong, feel free to link me to an official source that says the show will be cancelled.)

I would, but the MGM site doesn't archive its news posts, for some reason. Back in December, they posted an exact duplicate of Darren's news post from here - the show has been canceled and will stay that way, to be replaced by made for DVD movies.

And has anyone stopped to think that maybe the ratings went down just because they had either a) already seen the episode, didn't like it, and didn't want to watch it again or b) saw the crappy Skiffy promos and decided they didn't want to watch it the first time?

Right now, I'm thinking that ratings will come back up with The Shroud. Of course, that's just my personal feeling, but I think it'll be interesting to see what happens.

[GraceMolloy]

Downloading has little to no effect on the ratings. The Broken a$$ ratings system has effect on the ratings. I guarantee that the % of Neilson homes that download shows is VERY low. And no one else has any impact on that whatsoever besides Neilson homes.

Sci-Fi has screwed the pooch on several of its shows. Especially Stargate. It was off the air for what, 6 months? Meanwhile the entire rest of the season was airing in other countries. That is a load of crap. I'm not saying the rest of the world is less important, but if one small audience is what makes your show happen, you don't play with that. You cater to it. The same is true of Dr Who in Great Britain. The US has no impact on this show. Even though many of us watch it religiously.

Can you say Advertising? Anyone remember how good the ratings for 200 were? I know they spent a ton on that b/c it was a milestone but still, *some* advertising budget would be nice. I watch tv a decent bit, and if not for Gateworld I would not have known new episodes were back on.


This same thing is going to keep happening to Sci-Fi channel programming over and over until they wake up and get a clue.

[ussrelativity]

It seems as though no one knows anyone with a Nielsen box. It seems like that, and the fact that less people are watching in general. I've gotten a few people to take interest in the franchise, but that can only go so far.

[prion]

It seems as though no one knows anyone with a Nielsen box. It seems like that, and the fact that less people are watching in general. I've gotten a few people to take interest in the franchise, but that can only go so far.

Ditto, and most people I know think great tv is AMERICAN IDOL. Pfft.

[Oreo]

It's very easy.

The writing is rehashed bull****.

Sam getting shot and "dieing" last week was lame. The whales were interesting which isn't something normally seen on Atlantis.

Another problem is that Sci-fi peaked a few years ago and now they are back to a crappy cable channel ratings.

[ussrelativity]

Ditto, and most people I know think great tv is AMERICAN IDOL. Pfft.

That, and everything else ABC is using to try and copy FOX.

[Gwin]

It's very easy.

The writing is rehashed bull****.

Your opinion, very well, but don't make it a fact, its not one.

[cavalierlwt]

One angle to consider, more and more DVRing is hurting the tradional model of shows with expenses offset by advertising. People with DVR's largely skip through commercials. Yeah, the occasion funny commercial will get watched, but let's be honest. For advertisers, the value of their ad goes down. There's nothing wrong here, just technology is changing the landscape. It's sounds horrible, but I think some shows are going to eventually dip their toes into 'pay-per-view' mode. That may sound horrible, but just juggling around the numbers:

-according to WIKI, MGM spends about $1.4 million per show

-each ratings point represents about 1.10 million viewers.

-Stargate SG-1 got 1.1, SGA got 1.2 ratings points, followed by about .7 ratings point on the same airing later that night. Let's assume some of the later viewers were just watching the show a second time, and .4 represents viewers seeing it for the first time. That would mean each show had between 1.5 and 1.6 nielsen points. Converted to numbers of viewers, we're looking at 1.6 million viewers for SG-1, 1.7 million viewers for SGA. Bear in mind these are season low numbers, off 30% from normal.

So, just using these numbers, MGM/SCiFi could charge a $1 per show, $22 per season, and on even this very off week they would still make $200,000 on SG-1 and maybe a little more on SGA. Previous weeks with 2 million viewers would probably give them a more equitable return.
In exchange for our $22 dollar 'season pass' we would get a full hour of commercial free Stargate. Might actually have to charge $25 for a full season as a normal episode might cost a few bucks more at a full sixty minutes.

Someday the technology will be there for this to work smoothly. Think about, how many shows do you watch a week? Some might be cheaper, some might cost more. Some could stick to commericals for money. Networks could air the first few episodes of a show for free, and offer 4 weeks packages at first for new shows. I'm sure a show like 'Mythbusters' would cost in the area of ten to twenty cents, a quarter tops. A show like 'Lost' might cost $2 per episode.

[prion]

One angle to consider, more and more DVRing is hurting the tradional model of shows with expenses offset by advertising. People with DVR's largely skip through commercials. .

Hmm, as if people with VCRs didn't skip ads all those years??

[Mandysg1]

Hmm, as if people with VCRs didn't skip ads all those years??

Umm...I know I still do

[suse]

One angle to consider, more and more DVRing is hurting the tradional model of shows with expenses offset by advertising. People with DVR's largely skip through commercials. Yeah, the occasion funny commercial will get watched, but let's be honest. For advertisers, the value of their ad goes down. There's nothing wrong here, just technology is changing the landscape. It's sounds horrible, but I think some shows are going to eventually dip their toes into 'pay-per-view' mode. That may sound horrible, but just juggling around the numbers:

-according to WIKI, MGM spends about $1.4 million per show

-each ratings point represents about 1.10 million viewers.

-Stargate SG-1 got 1.1, SGA got 1.2 ratings points, followed by about .7 ratings point on the same airing later that night. Let's assume some of the later viewers were just watching the show a second time, and .4 represents viewers seeing it for the first time. That would mean each show had between 1.5 and 1.6 nielsen points. Converted to numbers of viewers, we're looking at 1.6 million viewers for SG-1, 1.7 million viewers for SGA. Bear in mind these are season low numbers, off 30% from normal.

So, just using these numbers, MGM/SCiFi could charge a $1 per show, $22 per season, and on even this very off week they would still make $200,000 on SG-1 and maybe a little more on SGA. Previous weeks with 2 million viewers would probably give them a more equitable return.
In exchange for our $22 dollar 'season pass' we would get a full hour of commercial free Stargate. Might actually have to charge $25 for a full season as a normal episode might cost a few bucks more at a full sixty minutes.

Someday the technology will be there for this to work smoothly. Think about, how many shows do you watch a week? Some might be cheaper, some might cost more. Some could stick to commericals for money. Networks could air the first few episodes of a show for free, and offer 4 weeks packages at first for new shows. I'm sure a show like 'Mythbusters' would cost in the area of ten to twenty cents, a quarter tops. A show like 'Lost' might cost $2 per episode.

As I'm not a Neilsen family I don't matter, but I missed last week because the satallite went out. Luckily a friend had it. As much as I love AT and think she did a great job - meh.

I'm not sure why the 30% drop, mosy aren't internet fans with major spoilers to tell them much. <shrug>

As someone said (somewhere) it's only Atlantis that's important right now.

Off topic: The quoted scenario is happening with a little internet show called Sanctuary - starring Amanda Tapping.

www.sanctuaryforall.com

suse

[Chricton]

Maybe I'm alone here, but another reason ratings might be going down is because many of the "new Scifi Channel" fans have simply outgrown the series. Back in the season 6-8 years, I was watching SG-1 religiously. I had discovered the show when it premiered on Scifi, got the DVD's as quickly as I could, and gobbled the series up like it was a free buffet, I was in love. I would watch the DVD's at least a few times a week. I would never miss an episode. I think I watched some episodes in excess of 6 times.

But now, this last month, I found myself not even knowing 10.5 had premiered. When I found out (from a site reporting the low ratings), I still missed the second episode because I wasn't "motivated" to watch, I listened to music for a few hours instead. I haven't put in a DVD for almost a year now, and I haven't even bought the ninth season (I would buy these things the DAY they were released).

Anyone in the same boat? While it doesn't explain why BSG fell off as well, I still watch that religiously, but SG-1 seems to have gone stale for me. I still like the show, SGA as well, but I'm not "omg omg omg SG" anymore. That loss of "motivation" started when my taste in TV began to change, watching BSG more and lots of the serialized shows on TV these days, like 24, LOST, and much of what HBO offers.

Anything I used to do SG related; DVD, reading spoilers, CHATTING....I just dont do it anymore. Maybe I just need to rewatch the DVD's, get myself into it again.

[prion]

Maybe I'm alone here, but another reason ratings might be going down is because many of the "new Scifi Channel" fans have simply outgrown the series. Back in the season 6-8 years, I was watching SG-1 religiously. I had discovered the show when it premiered on Scifi, got the DVD's as quickly as I could, and gobbled the series up like it was a free buffet, I was in love. I would watch the DVD's at least a few times a week. I would never miss an episode. I think I watched some episodes in excess of 6 times.

But now, this last month, I found myself not even knowing 10.5 had premiered. When I found out (from a site reporting the low ratings), I still missed the second episode because I wasn't "motivated" to watch, I listened to music for a few hours instead. I haven't put in a DVD for almost a year now, and I haven't even bought the ninth season (I would buy these things the DAY they were released).

Anyone in the same boat? While it doesn't explain why BSG fell off as well, I still watch that religiously, but SG-1 seems to have gone stale for me. I still like the show, SGA as well, but I'm not "omg omg omg SG" anymore. That loss of "motivation" started when my taste in TV began to change, watching BSG more and lots of the serialized shows on TV these days, like 24, LOST, and much of what HBO offers.

Anything I used to do SG related; DVD, reading spoilers, CHATTING....I just dont do it anymore. Maybe I just need to rewatch the DVD's, get myself into it again.

No, I'm sure a lot of viewers are in the same boat. They simply moved on. Realistically, only a a miniscule amount of fans will stay with a show forever.

[LogicSequence]

I think most people are talking about Atlantis when it comes to ratings now... I wasn't reffering to SG-1in my piece... SG-1's ratings hardly matter any more, they've been canceled, it's Atlantis' ratings that matter.

Again, i think the fact that the shows have aired SO LONG ago all over the world has a MUCH bigger impact on the amount of viewes than the "downloading doesn't mean sh*t" people think. And, correct me if i'm wrong, but Neilson still does telephone polling as part of it's ratings research, so it's not just people with a ratings box.