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For rebranded Syfy,
still a ways to go

Total audience is up just 1 percent in third quarter

By Tom Conroy
Sep 30, 2009

When Sci Fi announced in March that its name was going to be changed to Syfy, the move was intended to let viewers know that the programming was being tweaked too.

The plan was to widen the range of shows in the hope that the network would attract a larger and younger audience without alienating its core audience of science-fiction fans.

“This signals a much broader scope of programming,” Michael Engleman, the vice president of creative at the network, told Media Life in March. “It’s like the camera lens is focusing wider. We’re not turning in a new direction.”

The third-quarter cable ratings suggest that the move isn’t a success yet.

According to Nielsen, Syfy’s total primetime audience over the three months averaged 1.359 million viewers, placing it at No. 9 among ad-supported cable networks.

Viewership is up by about 1 percent over Sci Fi’s primetime average in third quarter 2008, and it was the network's best Q3 in its 17-year history.

That slight increase, however, isn’t happening among the viewers the revamp was intended to attract, the younger set, people from 18-34 and 18-49.

Ratings are actually down for those two demos, by 9 percent and 3 percent, respectively. Also down are 25-54s, though by less than 1 percent.

The one area of growth, in fact, is among women, but these gains are modest. Women 18 to 49 are up less than 1 percent and women 25 to 54 are up 3 percent.

There is some unambiguous good news in the third-quarter numbers. Syfy’s series “Warehouse 13,” which premiered on July 7, the same day that the name change went into effect, was the third-highest-rated new series on cable among total viewers and the sixth-highest among 18-to-49-year-olds.

None of this is suggest Syfy's rebranding is a flop, or anything like it, only that it's yet to show results.

Rebranding a network is a long and sometimes bumpy process. The Nashville Network’s transformation into Spike—which involved intermediate name changes to TNN, the National Network and then the New TNN—took five years.

***

In cable ratings for the week ended Sept. 27:

Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): ESPN, USA, TBS, FX, A&E.

Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): ESPN, USA, Fox News Channel, Nick at Nite, TBS.

Top movie (18-49s): TBS’s “Wedding Crashers” (Saturday, 9:10 p.m.) 1.36 million.

Top sporting event (total viewers): ESPN’s “Monday Night Football: Colts/Dolphins” (Monday, 8:30 p.m.) 14.71 million.

Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: ESPN’s “Monday Night Football: Colts/Dolphins” (Monday, 8:30 p.m.); USA’s “WWE Raw” (Monday, 10 p.m.); FX’s “Sons of Anarchy” (Tuesday, 10 p.m.); ESPN’s “SportsCenter” (Monday, 11:36 p.m.).

Show on the rise: MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew,” Sunday 9 p.m. The reality competition jumped 34 percent week to week among 18-34s, from 827,000 viewers to 1.11 million.

Show on the decline: FX’s “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” Thursday 10 p.m. In the second week of the season the comedy slipped 22 percent among 18-49s, from 1.78 million viewers to 1.38 million.

AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS Ranked on Household Rating Week Ending September 27
Rank	Primetime		Total Day
Rank	Net	(000)	Net	(000)
1	ESPN	2746	NICK	1491
2	USA	2120	USA	1129
3	FOXN	1696	NAN *	1109
4	NAN	1278	ESPN	1096
5	AEN	1084	FOXN	1051
6	TBSC	1072	ADSM*	917
7	TNT	1062	TNT	863
8	TOON	991	TOON	770
9	FX	931	TBSC	656
10	HGTV	929	AEN	642
11	HIST	881	HIST	561
12	LIF	854	LIF	559
13	SYFY	802	TRU	536
14	FAM	789	FOOD	533
15	TRU	751	HGTV	527
16	FOOD	736	SPK	510
17	SPK	720	FX	506
18	TLC	707	DISC	470
19	BRAV	703	FAM	459
20	CMDY	701	HALL	459
21	DISC	699	TVLD	452
22	AMC	691	CNN	444
23	HALL	661	AMC	433
24	CNN	605	CMDY	427
25	MSNB	578	SYFY	417
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day. Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data

TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS Ranked on Households Week Ending September 27
Rank	Program	Net	(000)
1	Colts/Dolphins	ESPN	10849
2	College Football-Thursday Night	ESPN	3614
3	WWE Entertainment	USA	3566
4	Monk	USA	3274
5	WWE Entertainment	USA	3257
6	iCarly	NICK	3218
7	Spongebob	NICK	3195
8	Sportscenter	ESPN	3145
9	Spongebob	NICK	2912
10	Monsters vs. Aliens Special	NICK	2889
11	The Penguins Of Madagascar	NICK	2871
12	NCIS	USA	2836
13	Army Wives	LIF	2757
14	The O'Reilly Factor	FOXN	2698
15	NCIS	USA	2695
16	NCIS	USA	2662
17	iCarly	NICK	2625
18	NCIS	USA	2607
19	True Jackson, VP	NICK	2600
20	Spongebob	NICK	2598
21	NCIS	USA	2596
22	iCarly	NICK	2570
23	Spongebob	NICK	2566
24	Florida/Kentucky	ESP2	2551
24	The O'Reilly Factor	FOXN	2551
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS Adults 18-34 Week Ending September 27
Rank	PRIME TIME		TOTAL DAY
Rank	Net	(000)	Net	(000)
1	ESPN	846	ADSM*	456
2	TBSC	537	ESPN	396
3	USA	463	NICK	310
4	FX	400	TBSC	299
5	CMDY	382	NAN *	291
6	MTV	360	USA	257
7	AEN	294	TNT	231
8	SPK	290	MTV	228
9	BRAV	281	CMDY	205
10	TNT	276	FX	205
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day. Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS Adults 18-34 Week Ending September 27
Rank	PROGRAM	NET	(000)
1	Colts/Dolphins	ESPN	3887
2	The Ultimate Fighter	SPK	1645
3	Sportscenter	ESPN	1387
4	WWE Entertainment	USA	1276
5	Sons Of Anarchy	FX	1270
6	Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami	EN	1245
7	Family Guy	ADSM	1243
8	Family Guy	ADSM	1133
9	Family Guy	ADSM	1117
10	Family Guy	ADSM	1115
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS Adults 18-49 Week Ending September 27
Rank	PRIME TIME		TOTAL DAY
Rank	Net	(000)	Net	(000)
1	ESPN	1778	ESPN	762
2	USA	1045	ADSM*	637
3	TBSC	912	USA	565
4	FX	737	NAN *	529
5	AEN	648	TNT	512
6	TNT	640	NICK	507
7	CMDY	581	TBSC	502
8	SYFY	565	FX	377
9	BRAV	541	AEN	372
10	HIST	540	HIST	342
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day. Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS Adults 18-49 Week Ending September 27
Rank	PROGRAM	NET	(000)
1	Colts/Dolphins	ESPN	7783
2	WWE Entertainment	USA	2676
3	Sportscenter	ESPN	2499
4	Sons Of Anarchy	FX	2442
5	The Ultimate Fighter	SPK	2365
6	College Football-Thursday Night	ESPN	2279
7	WWE Entertainment	USA	2252
8	Top Chef	BRAV	1957
9	NFL Countdown	ESPN	1952
10	The Real Housewives Of Atlanta	BRAV	1947
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS Adults 25-54 Week Ending September 27
	PRIME TIME		TOTAL DAY
Rank	Net	(000)	Net	(000)
1	ESPN	1777	ESPN	703
2	USA	1202	USA	615
3	TBSC	776	TNT	526
4	AEN	691	TBSC	438
5	TNT	685	ADSM*	433
6	FX	648	NAN *	420
7	SYFY	605	NICK	418
8	FOXN	569	AEN	389
9	HIST	558	FOXN	353
10	BRAV	535	HIST	341
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day. Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS Adults 25-54 Week Ending September 27
Rank	PROGRAM	NET	(000)
1	Colts/Dolphins	ESPN	7521
2	WWE Entertainment	USA	2604
3	College Football-Thursday Night	ESPN	2375
4	Sportscenter	ESPN	2336
5	WWE Entertainment	USA	2288
6	Sons Of Anarchy	FX	2276
7	Top Chef	BRAV	2087
8	The Real Housewives Of Atlanta	BRAV	1837
9	Monk	USA	1825
10	Florida/Kentucky	ESP2	1785
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data