Skiffy in 83 million homes

[thomas7g]

I just read a stat in an article on scifi that reports the cable channel is available in 83 million homes. So I just wanted to add that number to our knowledgebase since its important.

Its alot smaller than I thought. So the new show got about 5% of possible viewers right?

Even if the majority of viewers did watch skiffy that night, it would be hard pressed to reach numbers akin to it's 1970's predecessor. 65 million watched the premeire of the original BG.

I guess that would make it a good plan to get the new show to network tv. More people would be able to watch the new show. So with more viewrs, you get more sponser funding to ofset the huge costs of special effects in a space battle based series.

:)

[Darth Marley]

It is important to distinguish number of households served from number of viewers.

83 Million households sounds to me like a major fraction of available domestic audience.

In the ninth season of the X-Files, there were an estimated 105.5 million television households, so even with a lot of reasonable growth, SFC has pretty good market penetration.

Your math looks correct if each viewer ( 4.46 million 09DEC03) were watching alone in a separate household.

My "gut" on these numbers is that most viewers were not watching alone, and there is probably some weighted average of something like 2.287 viewers per household used to reach the 4.46 million number. This means that the show was probably watched in fewer than 5% of the households that had SFC delivered.
A reasonable guess on the percent of those 83 million potential households would therefore be slightly less than 2.5%.

[BST]

Sometimes, statistics like this can be a bit misleading. The keyword is "availability". According to the stat, Sci-Fi is available to approximately 83 million homes or perhaps stated a little differently, its availability passes by 83 million homes. In other words, if cable tv service is available in an area and the coaxial cable runs down a particular street, that doesn't mean that each house on that street has cable tv service. It just means that the service is available to everyone on the street. Same with satellite service. It's available to almost everyone but, not everyone has a dish on their house or in their yard.

I wasn't trying to split hairs and also realize that that proportion is going to be rather small but, it still would need to be factored out of the 83 million figure.

Regarding viewers vs. households - right on target, and the guess-timate approximating 2 viewers/household is a fair estimate. So, that would lead to an estimate of households viewing Sci-Fi, those 2 nights, being between 1.75 and 2.0 million.

[Darth Marley]

Good catch on the "availability" word.
One might take it to mean SFC is offered as a non-basic cable service in some regions, but it is bundled in basic in my area.
This little detail could reasonably bump up the percentage of households that actually chose to turn the channel to SFC to watch 09DEC03 of those that could possibly do so, since the sample size of households that can actually turn that channel on would be smaller.

[thomas7g]

I was just guessing out of the top of my head with the 5%... :)

The exact phrase in the LA Times was Sci Fi, available in some 83 million homes, has recently been taken over by corporate parent NBC Universal.
I also remember the show was reported in the quick overnight projections as getting something like 5 million viewers each night. (I'm guessing from a very blurry memory on that) But then I heard the final numbers were significantly lower than the instant projections.

Not that the exact numbers matter. Being a luke warm failure on a network will probably get them as many viewers as a hit show on cable. So you stand to get a significant surge in viewers if you just go to a major networks with alot more households.

[koenigrules]

Well, I just got some figures from this article:

http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|89462|1|,00.html

Apparently the eighth season premiere of SG-1 averaged 3.2 million viewers, and the Atlantis premiere outperformed that number with 4.2 million viewers.
Only Taken & the BSG mini generated higher numbers.
I predict a ratings winner for the new BSG series in January 2005.
Any takers?
KR

[nccdee]

83 million homes are getting the Sci Fi Channel, either through satellite or cable. This is a real number. As to whether someone is watching that channel, well, that's why we have the neilson rating system.

This is not statistics, its simple math. You simply ask the cable companies and satellite service how many customers do they have and then ask if they provide the Sci Fi Channel. That's it.

Remember, this helps set the foundation for advertising rates (and as the show become more popular, ie higher rating, the higher the rates goes).

25 years ago there were less channels to watch, therefore, advertisers were guaranteed access to larger viewing audiences for a single show.

I think the rules have been adjusted for the changes in viewer numbers. It possible for a show to be a very big hit if it has only 1 million viewer per week. How? Talks, Game Shows, Reality TV and so on. Technology has also allow shows to be produced at a fraction of the cost but still provide quality programs.

Will the new BGS ever come close to getting the viewers like the orignal? Never. I don't think that "Friends" have ever gotten the viewers that the orignal BGS got.

The reality is advertisers pay a lot more and that is the key to success. They are willing to pay $500,000 for a 1 minute spot on "Friend". I don't think they were paying anything like that 25 year ago.

Think about this...how many shows that were deem "above average" by critics and fans but were cancelled due to low rating. I suspect that advertiser stuck with what they believed were more "successful" shows (not necessarily better shows).

nccdee

[nccdee]

KR

Wow!! That is impressive. I was one of those watching. Atlantis is certainly different. I am really looking forward to seeing BGS.

Just to add one thing....I have started watching this show called "the 4400". Very interesting. It has elements of different shows (ie. X-Files, Alien Nation). Its on USA Network, also part of the NBC/Sci-Fi/Universal.

nccdee

[koenigrules]

nccdee:
I've been watching the 4400 too.
While not effects driven, it has a good soap opera story of discovering how people have been physically/ psychologically altered as a result of their being abducted.
FYI, the 4400 generated the highest ratings for an original program on the USA network.
So double WOW for both Sci-Fi & its parent company USA!
KR

[bsg1fan1975]

it maybe available for me to watch but I don't bother with it as I have better things to do with my time than watch the waste of money they put on for shows!