Ratings Bubble Burster

[Muffit]

I don’t mean to kick a dead horse, but since I just watched Seabiscuit, maybe it’s appropo?

Did a little research and came up with some rather interesting facts that might really surprise everyone. I know it has been hotly debated that today’s mini ratings cannot be compared point to point to the BSG TOS ratings, but this little tidbit may make you think a bit.

SciFi just announced that there are 83 million households which now have their channel available. But did you know that in 1978, there were only 73 million households that even had TVs? (http://www.tvhistory.tv/Annual_TV_Households_50-78.JPG). And of that number, only about 75% (57 million) actually had color TVs? (http://www.tvhistory.tv/Color_Households_64-78.JPG). That means that there were actually /more/ available viewers for the mini (by 10 million) than were available for TOS! Hmmm!!! So maybe it’s not completely correct after all to say they cannot be compared – the numbers are awfully close. So that 44.6 rating for TOS vs 3.5 for the mini may be more comparable than we thought.

Yes, I know that there are more channels available today, that is perfectly true. But how many channels does the average family actually watch? I think my family is pretty typical, and we have digital cable with 70 some odd channels and a horde of premium channels. But the truth is, in the average year we watch at most 10 different channels – the rest are just garbage (the Grass Growing Channel, Cooking in Cantonese, Rerun Central, etc). When I remember back to 1978, what I realize is that, be there 12 or 120 channels to choose from, there is simply /nothing/ on worth watching the vast majority of the time. We have a couple favorite channels and completely ignore the rest, unless there is some really over the top advertising for a show on one of them.

I think if we really dig deep, we will find there truly is some comparative value here, more than originally anticipated. But I mean no harm, so I hope you will forgive me if by broaching this I offend you in any way. At least for me, 66 million viewers vs 4 million within an equivalent number of households is as revealing as I could hope to see.

Thanks for reading, sorry for the soapbox rant,
Muffit

Dear Muffit,

This is a great piece of research! Outstanding. It was interesting to learn that fewer people from a greater possible viewing audience watched the mini than Tos. When viewed from this perspective, I guess the mini wasn't such a big hit in comparison. Maybe this is why sciffy is draging it's collective feet on greenlighting the mini for a full series.

[Darth Marley]

As sf fans in general,perhaps looking at the top ratings for scifi channel is of some value for gauging the tv market for ANY scifi show.
Looks like Dune and the BSG mini gathered the most viewers from what I have seen posted.
For a series though,taking a look at something like SG1 new show airings might be an indicator of how much $ studios will put up for any sf show.

SF is not likely to get blockbuster ratings these days no matter what the show is.

[Dawg]

Originally posted by Darth Marley
As sf fans in general,perhaps looking at the top ratings for scifi channel is of some value for gauging the tv market for ANY scifi show.
Looks like Dune and the BSG mini gathered the most viewers from what I have seen posted.
For a series though,taking a look at something like SG1 new show airings might be an indicator of how much $ studios will put up for any sf show.

SF is not likely to get blockbuster ratings these days no matter what the show is.

Very true, Darth. SF has always been a niche market, the waxing and waning of general popularity notwithstanding. There will always be a core group of some few millions who will watch SF.

With the advent of cable and the opportunity to address niche markets specifically (such as golf, travel, etc), wouldn't it be nice to have a channel devoted to science fiction? I wonder if we'll ever see one...

I am
Dawg

[Darth Marley]

Hehe....I have started a similar conversation in http://www.colonialfleets.com/forums...5&pagenumber=4


I ask if any would like to see SciFi Channel fail.

[shiningstar]

Great post Muffit! Thanks for the thought.