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Programming News

Discovery Posts Ratings Gains and Milestones Among All U.S. Nets in May

In P25-54, Discovery's portfolio of seven Nielsen-rated U.S. networks continues to outpace broadcast and all non-Discovery ad-supported cable in May 2009 vs. May 2008, increasing 11.3% in primetime, nearly tripling non-Discovery cable growth of 3.9%, while broadcast is down 10.2%. 

DISCOVERY CHANNEL

  • Top ten destination for key male viewers every night of the week in May among M25-54 and 18-49;
  • #4 among M25-54 and 18-49, #5 among P25-54, and #6 among P18-49 and M18-34;
  • Second most-watched network on Tuesdays in May among M25-54, behind only TNT (NBA Playoffs) and P25-54;
  • On Wednesdays, #3 among M18-49 and 18-34, behind only TNT and ESPN, and #4 in M25-54;
  • DEADLIEST CATCH is the #1 non-fiction series among M18-49 in May; #1 non-sports program on Tuesdays in P/M 25-54 and M18-49; and #1 non-sports program of the month on Tuesdays.

TLC

  • #7 among W18-34; #8 among W25-54, 18-49 and 18-34;
  • Second most-watched network among W18-49 and 18-34 on Monday nights; 
  • Double-digit gains across all key demos vs. May 2008: 
    • P2+: +24% (974k vs. 788k)
    • P25-54: +20% (482k vs. 403k)
    • W25-54: +17% (309k vs. 263k)
    •  P18-49: +18% (498k vs. 421k)
    • W18-49: +15% (329k vs. 285k)
  • Season premiere of JON & KATE PLUS 8 (May 25) achieved the highest ever primetime delivery among P2+ (9.8 million), HH (6.6 million), P18-49 (6.1 million) and W18-49 (4.3 million) on TLC and was the #1 program of the night, beating all of broadcast and cable among HHs, all key Person and Women demos (25-54, 18-49 and 18-34) and #2 in M18-49 and 18-34 behind only the NBA Playoffs on ESPN. The premiere earned highest ever primetime delivery on any Discovery network among HHs, P18-49, W18-49, P18-34 (3.6 million) and W18-34 (2.6 million).
  • New Series:
    • Premiere of CAKE BOSS (May 25): 3.2 million P2+; #1 series premiere ever on TLC among W18-34 (828k); #4 in W18-34 for all of primetime in both broadcast and cable.
    • Premiere of THE LITTLE COUPLE (May 26): double-digit increases in key women and person demos vs. TLC's prime premiere average.
  • Returning Series:
    • AMERICAN CHOPPER: double-digits increases in key male demos vs. TLC's prime premiere average.
    • WHAT NOT TO WEAR (season premiere May 31): #1 non-sports program in W25-54; TLC was #3 in W25-54 and 18-49 for the night. 

ANIMAL PLANET

  • Double-digit gains in all key demos vs. May 2008:
    • P2+: +22% (555k vs. 456k)
    • P25-54:  +45% (253k vs. 174k)
    • M25-54: +90% (137k vs. 72k)
    • W25-54: +14% (116k vs. 102k)
    • P18-49: +47% (243k vs. 165k)
  • Best ever May among HH (431k), P25-54, M25-54, P18-49, M18-49 (132k) and P18-34 (99k);
  • Eight straight months of year-over-year growth among P25-54, M25-54, P18-49 and M18-49;
  • RIVER MONSTERS: best performing series in network history; averaging more than a million households (1.05M) and P2+ viewers (1.434M) across seven premieres; network's most watched series ever among P25-54 (719k), M25-54 (455k), P18-49 (759k) and P18-34 (327k), and is the best series debut in network history in HH (1.02M) and P25-54 (647k).

INVESTIGATION DISCOVERY (ID)

  • Posted sizeable gains in key demos vs. May 2008:
    • P2+: +27% (188k vs. 148k)
    • P25-54: 33% (89k vs. 67k)
    • W25-54: +41% (55k vs. 39k)
    • P18-49: +13% (70k vs. 62k)
    • W18-49: +19% (44k vs. 37k)
  • 16 consecutive months of year-over-year gains in HH (since launch in January 2008).  

SCIENCE CHANNEL

  • Increases in all key demos vs. May 2008: 
    • P2+: +33% (170k vs. 128k)
    • P25-54: +13% (79k vs. 70k)
    • M25-54: +15% (53k vs. 46k)
    • P18-49: +16% (74k vs. 64k)
    • M18-49: +24% (52k vs. 42k)
  • Nine consecutive months of year-over-year growth in P2+, HHs and P18-34.

MILITARY CHANNEL

  • Up +20% in P2+ (128k vs. 107k) and +23% in HHs (108k vs. 88k) vs. May 2008;
  • 34 months of consecutive year-over-year growth in HHs and nine months in W25-54.

DISCOVERY HEALTH

  • Up in all key demos vs. May 2008:
    • HH: +6% (185k vs. 174k)
    • P2+: +9% (231k vs. 211k)
    • P25-54: +7% (115k vs. 107k)
    • W25-54: +14% (83k vs. 73k)
    • W18-49: +4% (77k vs. 74k);.
  • Three consecutive months of double-digit, year-over-year gains among W25-54.

All Data Based on Primetime Delivery and Among All Ad-Supported Cable Unless Otherwise Noted

Discovery Communications, Inc.
June 2, 2009