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).