Ratings News

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

I'd wondered how BSG had fared and the answer is fantastically:

Galactica premiere draws 3.1 million viewers
TUESDAY - JANUARY 18, 2005


The SCI FI Channel scored on Friday with the series premiere of Battlestar Galactica, which drew 3.1 million viewers for two episodes on January 14. The show scored a 2.6 average household rating.

Galactica was the top-rated show on cable for the evening in several key demographics, including viewers 25 to 54, viewers 18 to 49, men 18-34, men 18-49, and men 25-54. The premiere was the highest-rated first quarter (January through March) event in SCI FI's history, and its second-highest rated series premiere. Only the July 2005 premiere of Stargate Atlantis scored higher (a 3.2 rating).

Hurrah! *flings hat into air in celebration*

Please god, let it continue. I want a second season even after seeing only the first two episodes.

In news of the weird, my sister, who doesn't normally like sci-fi at all, recorded the miniseries rebroadcast and the premiere because she had fondness for the original. Her comment on the miniseries when I asked was that it was "slow". I'll ask tonight about her reaction to the premiere.

Comments

[spoonishly.livejournal.com]

Such awesome news. I was hoping for high 2.0's and this just broke my expectations.

Yay for good shows getting the ratings they deserve.

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

Isn't it great?

[djfanboy.livejournal.com]

Heh. And Ron Moore thought the downloading of episodes off the net before they aired would hurt the series here in the US.

:)

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

Expectation, my friend. And word of mouth! Everythign I've heard has been very positive.

[djfanboy.livejournal.com]

hopefully that means a second season...

[widget285.livejournal.com]

While i'm pleased with the numbers because good numbers mean new episodes, I can't help but be a little annoyed that the ratings are all about the *male* demographics. Hello? Person without a penis who is watching the show! I know that sci-fi is supposed to be male dominated, but dammit, we're out there watching too, ya know!

OK, rant over.

[ladysorka]

Well, you know us girls. We simply can't stand to watch things with guns and explosions.

We must've all been over watching the Soap Network.

...I may be slightly bitter about the Sci-Fi channel and their attitude towards women.

[widget285.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I was busy washing my hair and baking cookies at the time.

/rolls eyes

...I may be slightly bitter about the Sci-Fi channel and their attitude towards women.

Well, you're not the only one. and the worst part? Sci-Fi has a woman president. That alone should indicate that sci-fi isn't just about boys and their phallic fixations.

[iteagle03.livejournal.com]

Why all the male bashing?!?

All the Sci-Fi channel will do with those numbers is take them to advertisers and sell air-time. Companies looking to market certain products aren't going to waste $$$ on air time if the age/gender group the product is aimed isn't watching TV during that time slot. I'm just thankful the show is doing well, since Friday night is something of a kiss of death. Dark Angel died when it got moved to Friday nights and I believe Firefly was also on Fridays. There was another show which was a comic book spin-off of Batman ... the name just eludes me at the moment.

[widget285.livejournal.com]

Not male bashing, but rather, continuing frustration at being viewed as a non-entity because of the lack of a penis. I have qualms about many of these demographic studies (which I think are frequently outdated and unreliable) and the way they get applied. The cliche about sci-fi, namely that they are acne ridden, geek losers who have never had sex and wear Star Trek pjs is an offensive one (and yes, there was an article recently that described viewres in those terms. Welcome to 2005). cliches may have there basis in fact, but they do not tell the whole tale. The fact is, women do watch sci-fi, but we are not considered a desirable demographic and so we simply don't exist in the eyes of programmers and advertisers, despite evidence to the contrary. And *that* never fails to piss me off.

women watch sf too

[runningwave.livejournal.com]

SCIFI has a woman president?!?

Oh, that just kills me. I have been an sf fan since I watched the old 60s Star Trek series in re-runs during the early 70s with my best friend. We were five years old and used to use the seatbelt clips in her mom's toyota as "communicators". Scotty, beam us up.

I know the SF industry would probably be dead without their male audience majority, but it would be nice if someone out there would admit there are women who, yes, love science fiction. In fact, at first I was appalled at the idea of Starbuck being a woman because I thought that she would be like Seven of Nine on ST:Voyager. But she's a very strong-willed homage to Dirk Benedict's character in female form. So I'm happy about that.

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

I understand the annoyance. But from an advertising point of view, those 18-34 year old males are gold, in a way that 18-34 year old women or older people of any stripe are not. Since the ratings only matter from the point of view of whether bean counters somewhere support the renewal of the show, that's what gets focused on. For example, similar numbers of 40-50 year olds would be bad news for advertisers, even if the actual number of viewers were to remain the same. Given a choice between 1 million 25 year old men and 1 million 25 year old women, advertisers will pick the men every time. It's annoying, but the economics of it all are inescapable.

Conversely, as the show ages, female become more and more a good thing, because they're more loyal, so they stave off audience erosion. That initial rush of men will have since moved on to new explosions, new spaceships, new babes.

[widget285.livejournal.com]

Well, they should keep in mind that I might be a woman in a less desirable age group, but I've got lots of disposable income that they're losing out on. Hasn't anyone pointed out that women earn money these days?

[telepresence.livejournal.com]

Sure. It's just that the advertiser view of the universe is...unique. They don't want to talk to people who merely have money. They want to talk to people who have money, and who still haven't decided what brands they prefer in life. That's why younger people are more desireable than older people who have more money, because those older people already know they like Mercedes, no BMW, they already know they like Pepsi, not Coke. The Pepsi/Mercedes people already have them, the BMW/Coke people aren't going to get them (statistically speaking), so they're out of play despite being loaded.

The very fickleness of young men, and the fact that as they age they still will outearn women on average, is what makes them gold.

Now, there's always money to be made marketing to niches. There's always a minority group or some specific demographic that can be profitable. But speaking properly to those groups can be tricky, and sometimes it backfires badly, and it's still working the margins.

Advertisers are lazy. If ad budgets are finite, then they want the people who are most impressionable now (young (white) men*) who will be the richest, on average, later (adult (white) men).

*Kids are even more impressionable, but they don't have as much money or buying choice, and there are too many products you can't sell to them at all, like beer and cigarettes and cars.

Trust me, I don't like this. I play video games. There are very few markets where the advertising and branding isn't more completely geared towards the, for lack of a better term "taste" of young men. I complain about it to a few friends I know in the industry all the time. One of them just related to me a huge struggle he and a colleague went through at his company to have a game featuring a female character have 1. Breasts that weren't bigger than her head, and 2. an outfit that reflected her job (sort of an EMT/Paramedic kind of thing), and not the latest beachwear.

[widget285.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose the only bright side is that at least they recognize that we're not as gullible and biddable as men. I suppose that's something

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

They have to know we're watching, otherwise Apollo and Tyrol wouldn't be so hunky, and Baltar wouldn't be so likely to bring out the disciplinarian in all of us. Advertisers have funky priorities.

[widget285.livejournal.com]

Well, if they continue to give me lovely shots of Jamie Bamber wrapped in nothing but a towel, obviously I will forgive them. Good thing I'm not only a loyal fan, but a shallow one as well, eh?

[morwen_peredhil]

*chokes*

Must hold on to my resolve not to download eps before they're aired in the U.S.

Must...hold...on....