MTV Viewers Numbers Game for the Real World Denver Premiere

There was an MTV Press Release earlier this week stating that the COMBINED viewing numbers for the Real World Denver Premiere over the triad of shows shown at 8, 9, & 10pm on Wednesday November 22nd was over 8.5 million.  This is up nearly a third from last season’s Real World Key West one show premiere.

Variety countered today that the 10pm showing only pulled in 1.56 million and the 3 combined garnered 4.33 million total which would be less than the Key West Real World premiere of approximately 6 million.  Approximately 4 million watched the premiere of the Real World San Diego & the Real World Austin.  Followed by 3.3 million viewers for the initial episode of the Real World Philadelphia.

I spoke with MTV directly about this and they provided me this statement (courtesy of MTV) and Variety is now running a correction:

Last Wednesday night, 11/22, MTV debuted The Real World: Denver with a super-serving premiere event on Thanksgiving Eve.  In a network first, three consecutive airings of the season premiere exposed more viewers to a Real World premiere episode than ever before. Our goal was to deliver a new season of The Real World in a unique and different way by experimenting with a radical, innovative premiere model.

With regard to Variety’s story:
By giving the MTV audience three different viewing destinations, 8p, 9p and 10p, it would be inaccurate to compare any individual airing on 11/22 to previous season premieres.  Variety understands this and is running a correction in tomorrow’s paper.

• The Real World: Denver reached over 8.5 million total viewers (P2+)
• The Real World: Denver reached close to 5.3 million P12-34 viewers
• The cumulative average for all three plays was 4.33 million total viewers (P2+), 3.25 million in the key 12-34 demo
• Ratings consistently increased each hour among P12-34
• With The Real World Denver premiere block, MTV was the most watched cable network for the night (8-11p) among P12-34.
  

Additionally, MTV.com premiered an all-new live post show, The After Show to further satisfy viewers’ cravings for a more in-depth experience with The Real World: Denver:

• Total Real World Denver content yielded 223K streams on the day after the premiere event (11/23/06).
• Streams to the premiere episode of The After Show in its first two days live (11/22 - 11/23) were up +81% vs. the Key West premiere episode (2/28 - 3/1).