SCI FI SOARS WITH MOST-WATCHED SUMMER EVER
CHANNEL HITS RECORD HIGHS IN TOTAL VIEWERS,
YOUNGER VIEWERS AND WOMEN
CHANNEL ALSO HEATS UP WITH BEST AUGUST EVER
RANKING 4TH WITH VIEWERS 25-54 AND 5th WITH VIEWERS 18-49
SCIFI.COM SEES DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH
WITH MOST-TRAFFICKED SUMMER EVER
New York, NY � September 3, 2008 � SCI FI Channel's line up of original programming delivered its most-watched summer season ever, according to just released Nielsen Media Research. The overall ratings performance marks SCI FI's best summer ever among total viewers (1 Million), younger viewers 18-34 (253,000) and men 18-34 (143,000). The Channel also hit record highs for the season with women 18-34 (110,000), 18-49 (278,000) and 25-54 (310,000).
Versus last summer, SCI FI averaged a 1.0 HH rating, 624,000 Adults 18-49 (+5%), 702,000 Adults 25-54 (+6%) and 1.3 Million total viewers (+7%). For the season SCI FI is the 8th ranked basic cable entertainment network among Adults 18-49 and the 5th ranked network among Adults 25-54.
August was an amazing month of double-digit growth across all demos for SCI FI, ultimately ranking 5th with viewers 18-49 and 4th with viewers 25-54 among all basic cable entertainment networks. It was the Channel's best August ever averaging 1.4 Million total viewers (+23% vs. August '07) and received significant growth in key demos with 655,000 Adults 18-49 (+21%), and 730,000 Adults 25-54 (+21%).
Summer program highlights include:
EUREKA
The Season 3 premiere of Eureka on July 29 averaged 1.6 Million Adults 18-49, 1.8 Million Adults 25-54, and 3.4 Million total viewers, marking the best performances in these demos since the series premiere in July 2006. Eureka has been the #1 ranked program on Tuesday nights in Adults 25-54 since its third season premiere and continues to build on its success, ranking as SCI FI's top series in 2008 to-date for Adults 25-54 (averaging 1.8 Million) and total viewers (averaging 3.1 Million).
GHOST HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL
The return of Ghost Hunters International this summer further established the Ghost Hunters brand as cable television's leading paranormal franchise. The season averaged 1.3 Million Adults 18-49, 1.4 Million Adults 25-54, and 2.4 Million total viewers. Compared to the winter season, this is up +4% in 25-54's and +10% in total viewers. The second episode of the summer season (July 16) delivered the show's best performance since the series premiere in January 2008, attracting 2.6 Million total viewers.
SCARE TACTICS
Scare Tactics returned to SCI FI on July 9 with its first new episodes since 2004. The series, with new host Tracy Morgan (30 Rock, SNL), had its best season ever with 1 Million Adults 18-49 (+58% vs. season 2), 1 Million Adults 25-54 (+63%) and 2 Million total viewers (+97%).
SCI FI's Saturday Night Original Movies
With titles like Anaconda 3, Monster Ark, Flu Bird Horror and 100 Million B.C., SCI FI's original movies turned "the most dangerous night of television" into one of the most popular nights on cable this summer with a total weekly audience averaging 2 Million (+12% vs. last summer). In the key demos, Saturday night original movies averaged 734,000 Adults 18-49 (+1%) and 955,000 Adults 25-54 (+9%).
SCIFI.COM
SCI FI 's Website www.scifi.com had record traffic for the summer with double-digit increases among all key metrics year-to-year. SCI FI Rewind averaged 2.6 Million streams (+565% vs. last summer) and Battlestar Galactica was the #1 ranked section on the site with an average of 4 million page views (+141% vs. last summer). Battlestar Galactica also ranked first in video with an average of 1.2 Million streams (+343% year-to-year).
SCI FI Channel is a television network where "what if" is what's on. SCI FI fuels the imagination of viewers with original series and events, blockbuster movies and classic science fiction and fantasy programming, as well as dynamic Web site (www.scifi.com) and magazine. Launched in 1992, and currently in 93 million homes, SCI FI Channel is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies.
Source: Nielsen Media Research. Qualifications available upon request
Note: All data is Most Current blend of Live+7 and Live+SD where available.
All rankings exclude Nick and Adult Swim, as the networks air in less than 50% of the M-Su 8P-11P daypart. ESPN has also been excluded from the rankings.
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