‘Sharknado’ causes Twitter feeding frenzy; what about the ratings?
If you were on Twitter last night, there’s probably one thing you noticed: Celebrities were devouring “Sharknado” goodness like it was a gourmet lobster plate at a five-star restaurant. Patton Oswalt, Damon Lindelof, and Elizabeth Banks were just some of the celebrities that had fun with the Syfy original movie starring Tara Reid, and all indications from this (give that it reportedly drew more buzz on the social-networking site) suggested that it would draw some pretty monstrous ratings for the network.
Did this actually happen? Not so much. Proving that perhaps a good many people talking about the movie weren’t tragically watching the madness unfold, “Sharknado” drew close to 1.4 million viewers and a 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic. “Swamp People” won its time slot in cable with a 1.1 rating, whereas “Hollywood Game Night” on NBC was the top original program with a 1.3. It also lagged behind some other previous Syfy original movies from “The Asylum”, including a personal favorite in “Mega Piranha vs. Gatoroid” from back in 2011.
To us, the biggest mistake here that came for Syfy was putting the movie on a night other than Saturday, where they have aired many films in the past to higher ratings. Regardless, it’s hard to say that “Sharknado” is anything less than a win for the network regardless of the viewer total this time around. Why? People likely saw the tweets about the movie throughout its airing, and there is always a crowd who don’t want to watch a movie after it has already started. The massive and at times hilarious Twitter buzz should give the movie great repeat value, and also commission more movies of its kind in the future. The Asylum has a reputation for creating some totally fun movies, so we expect more monster hits in the future.
This isn’t the first time we have spoken about a Syfy original movie; we’ve also talked in the past with “Almighty Thor’s” Cody Deal about this and some other projects that he has worked on.
Photo: Syfy