Two things I feel might have affected SGU's cancelation.

[Browncoat1984]

One thing that struck me as I watched the Doctor Who series 6 premier (great btw!) is how much it was advertised outside of BBC America. There wasn't a program I watched (at least on cable) that week that didn't have an advertisement for the premier and even listed the channel. Now, I only watched a few programs live that week, but I saw it on Deadliest Catch, the top-rated show on Discovery channel right now, during Stargate Universe, and while watching some stuff on the history channel. Doctor Who aired that Saturday and became the most watched program on BBC America. Yes, I know it has a huge following, but I'm sure the constant advertisement played a big factor in that.

Compare and contrast this to Paramount and UPN. I see SyFy right now as being not too different from UPN early in the last decade. I remember when Star Trek Enterprise aired you never saw any advertisement outside of UPN. With SyFy I have never seen an advertisement for SGU or any other SyFy programs outside of the network. Many Star Trek fans at the time including myself bemoaned the lack of advertisement and said that that could possibly have affected the ratings for Star Trek Enterprise. Thing is, as a network, SyFy cannot rely solely on its internal fans for its viewer base, nor could UPN rely on internal fans solely for Enterprise. Much like SGU, Enterprise was a series designed to bring in new viewers, yet UPN ONLY advertised on its own network, or on the internet through Star Tewk news sites comprised mainly of Star Trek viewers who watched Voyager and most likely TOS, TNG and DS9. Similarily, SyFy is comprised most likely of Battlestar and Stargate viewers. I'm sure there might be more, but I bet there's a big chance that people who watch Eureka or Warehouse 13 or other shows are there originally because of Stargate or Battlestar. In advertising only there network, its no surprise that SyFy's numbers for SGU never reached much higher than Atlantis or SG-1 did and its no surprise that by the third outing of the Stargate franchise, some fans were getting burned out or did not like the new style. Yet SyFy rarely made that attempt to reach out to a different audience. The only people who were aware of SGU were network viewers or followers of sites like Gateworld.

With Star Trek 2009, Paramount learned its lesson when it comes to advertisement. I was very pleased with the campaign and EVERYWHERE you turned there was some sort of advertisement for Trek '09. They even had a superbowl commerical! I don't think any previous Trek movie had done that before! As a result of that advertisment, Trek '09 went on to become a commercial success and the highest grossing Star Trek movie in history, bringing new life and interest (and renewing my own interest and love) into the Star Trek franchise. Imagine if SGU had had a superbowl spot and reached that audience...

I know, I know, there's the whole "SGU hater" group out there who blames SGU for Atlantis. I know, SGU wasn't perfect in the beginning and had its problems...but is it possible that if SyFy had advertised the series outside of its own network that SGU might have been more successful? I feel that if SyFy doesn't learn how to advertise outside of its own network soon, it won't be around much longer, which is a shame because I still like Sanctuary and recently got myself hooked on Eureka and Warehouse 13.

Another factor that I wonder how much it affected ratings is the lack of SyFy in many homes and on many college campuses. SyFy is a niche network and some cable packages don't include it (until a few years ago ours didn't) and its not present on many college campuses (I know mine didn') so those of us who love these shows are forced to resort to other means that SyFy doesn't care about to watch them. Isn't the whole college age group the targeted audience of SGU? Even if people on college campuses COULD watch live, chances of them having a Nielsen box are most likely slim at best...I wonder how many people are on college campuses who watch it but aren't counted?

[Gatefan1976]

I have one question for you though Browncoat.

Why is advertising outside of Syfy's own network Syfy's concern? Shouldn't external advertising be the purview of MGM?

[Joe]

lack of SyFy in many homes?? What carp systems do you have? Now lots of hotels have the carp systems with 20-30 channels but Scifi was a big analog expanded basic channel on lots of systems.

No It was NBC going way down hill before the comcast take over and moveing the WWE to FRI.

With a VERSUS rename in the works maybe to universal sports or nbc sports or maybe even something like comcast sports net one. VERSUS does have some lesser / extreme sports on it so maybe all of that + the WWE can move to g4 (under a new name) + also have over flow / playoff NHL games (next year plan is to have ALL NHL playoff games on a main network).

G4 and syfy can become one channel. syfy did show web soup not that long ago. chiller seems like a scfi 2 can be come a scifi movie channel with the moves moved off of syfy.

[Keeper]

I know, I know, there's the whole "SGU hater" group out there who blames SGU for Atlantis. I know, SGU wasn't perfect in the beginning and had its problems...but is it possible that if SyFy had advertised the series outside of its own network that SGU might have been more successful? I feel that if SyFy doesn't learn how to advertise outside of its own network soon, it won't be around much longer, which is a shame because I still like Sanctuary and recently got myself hooked on Eureka and Warehouse 13.

I have one question for you though Browncoat.

Why is advertising outside of Syfy's own network Syfy's concern? Shouldn't external advertising be the purview of MGM?

1. i'm not sure how SGU vs Atlantis fits into that paragraph, since you actually seem to be talking about advertising. however, as i understand it (and i may have misunderstood) the producers were bored of atlantis, didn't want to keep it going, and wanted to jump to universe. they may not have said "you should cancel atlantis" - but they weren't prepared to keep it going alongside universe, and they also wanted a larger budget for universe. they've also proven before, with SG1/A, that two shows can run concurrently and successfully - so it's fair to say that, with creative efforts being focused on universe, atlantis - with solid potential still there - was dropped. i'm not saying whether it's right or wrong to blame SGU for the loss of SGA, however it isn't an accusation made without cause. advertising wouldn't have changed any of that.

2. while channel advertising is the responsibility of SyFy, it really SHOULD be up to the studios responsible for each show to compensate them for that in one way or another - no point buying rights to a show if it won't advertise itself. i don't know how most channels work since i don't have cable or sky, but i do know that terrestrial TV tends to be rather insular - they don't go to other channels, but instead rely on other forms of advertising to cover them. it may not have been an option, and to be honest, SyFy would probably have to advertise all shows equally if they chose to do it without studio input - something that they may well not wish to do, nor indeed need to do with shows that are pulling their weight without it.

[MediaSavant]

One thing that struck me as I watched the Doctor Who series 6 premier (great btw!) is how much it was advertised outside of BBC America. There wasn't a program I watched (at least on cable) that week that didn't have an advertisement for the premier and even listed the channel. Now, I only watched a few programs live that week, but I saw it on Deadliest Catch, the top-rated show on Discovery channel right now, during Stargate Universe, and while watching some stuff on the history channel. Doctor Who aired that Saturday and became the most watched program on BBC America. Yes, I know it has a huge following, but I'm sure the constant advertisement played a big factor in that.

Stargate Universe was also promoted on the USA Network and MSNBC. So, your basic premise that it didn't get promos outside of Syfy is incorrect. In New York City there were also billboards and signage on bus shelters.

The show premiered with 2.3 million viewers on a Live + Same Day basis and 2.8 million on a Live + 7 basis.

Another million viewers watched the 11PM repeat.

The show's problem was not how many people tuned to the premiere. It did fine.

I know, I know, there's the whole "SGU hater" group out there who blames SGU for Atlantis. I know, SGU wasn't perfect in the beginning and had its problems...but is it possible that if SyFy had advertised the series outside of its own network that SGU might have been more successful? I feel that if SyFy doesn't learn how to advertise outside of its own network soon, it won't be around much longer, which is a shame because I still like Sanctuary and recently got myself hooked on Eureka and Warehouse 13.

Again, you are dead wrong about Syfy not advertising beyond their own network. Just because you don't personally see, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Another factor that I wonder how much it affected ratings is the lack of SyFy in many homes and on many college campuses. SyFy is a niche network and some cable packages don't include it (until a few years ago ours didn't) and its not present on many college campuses (I know mine didn') so those of us who love these shows are forced to resort to other means that SyFy doesn't care about to watch them. Isn't the whole college age group the targeted audience of SGU? Even if people on college campuses COULD watch live, chances of them having a Nielsen box are most likely slim at best...I wonder how many people are on college campuses who watch it but aren't counted?

More misinformation on your part.

Syfy is no longer a "niche" network with limited distribution. It's in 99 million households, which is close to the total number of household that even subscribe to cable or satellite. Sister network USA is in 100 million households.

The way Nielsen handles college students is if your household is a Nielsen family and you go off to college, Nielsen will install a meter on your dorm TV. That was a change they made about five years ago.

I doubt missing college students were the problem given that the Age 18-20 portion of the population is 4% of the total and only half of those go to college. Even if there is a major problem Nielsen-wise--and I don't think there is--2% of the population isn't going to make much difference to the ratings.