The first night of Discovery Channel’s annual “Shark Week” lineup broke ratings records, delivering the highest viewership in the fin-friendly block’s 27-year history during its Aug. 10 broadcast.
The night pulled a 2.27 rating in adults 25-54, averaging 3.64 total viewers overall to secure the network’s 13th highest-rated primetime evening ever. The biggest year over year gains came courtesy of female viewers age 25-54, with that demo increasing by 18%.
“Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine” drew a 2.43 rating in the adults 25-54 demo and averaged 3.825 million viewers at 9 p.m. At 8 p.m., “Air Jaws: Fin of Fury” delivered 3.298 million viewers, improving the timeslot 57% over last year’s offering. A latenight talk show, “Shark After Dark” also drew around 1.556 million viewers, notching a 1.03 rating.
The social media-friendly lineup also racked up over 4 million interactions on Facebook through three million unique users on Sunday, and 11 primetime Twitter trending topics were “Shark Week” related.
“Air Jaws: Fin of Fury” is produced by Shark Entertainment with Jeff Kurr as Executive Producer. For Discovery, Julie Meisner Eagle served as executive producer. “Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine” hails from Pilgrim Studios for Discovery with Pilgrim’s Craig Piligian and Mike Nichols as executive producers. For Discovery, executive producers are Dolores Gavin and Mike Sorensen. “Shark After Dark” is produced for Discovery Channel by Sony owned Embassy Row and Green Mountain West. Executive Producer is Michael Davies for Embassy Row and Craig Ferguson and Philip Cottone for Green Mountain West. For Discovery, Executive Producers are Denise Contis, Craig Coffman and Scott Lewers.
