SciFi Ratings Week Ending October 12

[Digger]

SHOW HHR
Stargate SG-1 1.5
Terminator 2 1.3
Death Machine 1.1
Total Recall 1.1
Running Man 1.1
Red Planet 1.0
Hercules 1.0
Conan the Destroyer 1.0
Tremors: The Series 0.9
Taken: Part 3 0.9

Source: Nielsen Galaxy Report, 10/6/03 - 10/12/03

[vhsiv]

'Taken' only got a 0.9?

Where are the 3.1 million other viewers and the Emmy selection committee that decided that this was an unprecedented television 'event'?

They didn't bother to tune in for any of the many Sunday night repeats?

Well, it is ranked at #64 at Amazon for it's sales...
(#534 at Amazon.co.uk)

:croc tears:

[Darth Buddha]

I actually hate to admit that I have some of MediaSavant's concerns that "Taken" isn't even outperforming "Tremors".

[Digger]

I think what this is showing is that skiffy's programming decisions have radically changed the viewership of their network, although this may actually have been their intention all along. Once upon a time a great many of skiffy's regular viewers were people like us, who wanted to see scripted, arc-driven shows like Farscape, SG-1, I-Man, etc. Since skiffy has canned all those shows except for SG-1 they have driven away most of their "core" audience. The people they are pulling in now are just "casual" viewers who have no interest in anything more than a movie on Saturday night. For these viewers "Taken" might have been something to watch once when it was being aggresively hyped, but not something they care to watch again.

[Darth Buddha]

The whole "core viewer" concept I think is key...

And your take on how Skiffy may be altering their core viewership is REALLY good.

I hope somebody pitching the idea of another Science Fiction channel is sharp enough to come up with that read... or sharp enough to come to the board and see your assessment.

[Digger]

The big question is, is this the kind of viewer profile that networks (and advertisers) want? Would they rather have a network that was heavily biased towards casual viewers with only a few committed core viewers, or would they prefer things the other way around, or something more balanced? My feeling is that, for a niche network (and no matter what skiffy does they will ALWAYS be a niche network) advertisers may prefer more core viewers. This quote came from the Chicago Tribune article about ScaperCon.

But if a program — even a cult show such as "Farscape" — can deliver committed viewers, that's good news for advertisers, according to Kathryn Thomas, a media buyer for Starcom, a Chicago firm that finds the right TV programs for various advertisers. "Research shows that more attentive viewers are more likely to pay attention to ads and less likely to skip ads," Thomas said. "Nielsen can only give us program ratings — they can't give us commitment ratings. Even a select group of (passionate fans) is probably indicative of a larger group of people who are interested in a show."

[vhsiv]

Originally posted by Darth Buddha
I actually hate to admit that I have some of MediaSavant's concerns that "Taken" isn't even outperforming "Tremors". Is she still on our team? I thought she traded-up in the last round of player negotiations....

[LadyCrais]

Originally posted by vhsiv
Is she still on our team? I thought she traded-up in the last round of player negotiations....

Of course she's still on our team. Sheesh!

I am pretty astonished by the numbers Taken is getting in reruns. MS has mentioned a number of times something to the effect of, Yes, Skiffy does need to rerun Taken. I'm assuming that's because you don't make your profit until at least the first rerun from all we've read. And these numbers have got to have Skiffy concerned, because I can't imagine these being the kind of numbers they need to get into the profit-zone any time soon. They're all of 25% of the first run numbers, which is much much lower than their series seem to get.

Whichever week Dune was shown wasn't any better, though I don't remember if that was the Sting version or their latest version. If it was the latest version, then the two miniseries that they threw buckets of money at and promoted the hezmana out of have minimal appeal as reruns. Rather old movies, albeit good movies, are doing considerably better. And then Tremors: The Series, well... I can't help but find it strange that it's pulling in more or less the same ratings it was getting at the end before it was cancelled. I guess the kid audience they found must be pretty darn loyal.

[Darth Buddha]

Great point, Digger... and a great quote... (Where do you find these? I can research a disease on a dime, but I wouldn't even know how to begin for commercials!)

Beyond just the attentiveness, I would really like to see if anyone has ever speculated about the differing kinds of commercials you could use in that venue...

Remember the "Taster's Choice" commercials with that fellow who later wound up on "Buffy"? You'd be hard pressed to be able to do a series of commercials like that with such a fragmented viewership. It was more than just a series of commercials, it was a phenomenon (leading to at least one romance novel ... and didn't they do a mini on that too?).

But if you've got, say, "Farscape", or say "24", then suddenly that sort of commercial strategy is viable again.

[NYPinTA]

Originally posted by Darth Buddha
Remember the "Taster's Choice" commercials with that fellow who later wound up on "Buffy"?

That was GILES? Holy hell! :rollin: :rollin:
Those were great commercials....

[Digger]

(Where do you find these? I can research a disease on a dime, but I wouldn't even know how to begin for commercials!)
After a couple of months hanging around this board I realized that I was remembering bits and pieces of things that I read here that would be cool to use in my letters. So at that point I created a "quotes" file for myself where I occasionally dumped interesting or cool quotes about Farscape or about television and advertising in general. I strongly suspect I'm not the only one who does this. Most of it are critics reviews and such, but there is the occasional nugget like the quote from the Tribune piece that comes in handy now and again.

[Darth Buddha]

Originally posted by Digger
...So at that point I created a "quotes" file for myself where I occasionally dumped interesting or cool quotes about Farscape or about television and advertising in general.
Well, Digger, if you run across anything about the difficulty for an advertiser to build up a relationship with the viewer, please post! I would love to see that thread...

Originally posted by NYPinTA
That was GILES? Holy hell! :rollin: :rollin:
Those were great commercials....
Yep, it was Stewart Head (Giles) and Sharon Maughan...

http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-31368

Personally, I think going from Sharon to Sarah Gellar was a step down.