And by old people, of course, we mean the 40-54 demographic, which TV Land's wooing with its reality mini-series about those former J.J. Pearce Mustangs reliving their, um, glory years whilst stranded in paradise. According to TV Land's media release after the jump, the show's not pulling monster numbers -- it got some 735,000 total viewers upon its debut last week, with the average age being 46. But they're big enough gains over the previous year's to merit the release, apparently. No doubt, it's because no one watched TV Land on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. C.S.T. Also of note, or something, this is the show's most-visited page on its TV Land site. Can't imagine why. --Robert Wilonsky
MAUI…WOWEE!!!
PREMIERE OF TV LAND’S NEWEST ORIGINAL SERIES HIGH SCHOOL REUNION -- SCORES IMPRESSIVE GAINS ACROSS KEY DEMOS
New York, New York, March 6, 2008 – Wednesday night’s premiere of TV Land’s newest original reality series, High School Reunion, scored impressive gains across key demos over the same time period last year. The new series, which reunites classmates from a Texas high school more than 20 years after graduation, gave TV Land triple digit gains across the network’s target demo, Adults 25-54, and double digit gains among the network’s core audience, Adults 40-54.
“The success of High School Reunion is a testament to the fact that you can create programming for people in their 40s and 50s,” states Larry W. Jones, President, TV Land. “Viewers who first came to TV Land for classic TV are now embracing contemporary programming alongside their favorite hits. Last night’s premiere is evidence that there is room for originals on TV Land.”
According to Nielsen Media Research, High School Reunion posted a 0.4/426,000 among A25-54, up+105% in rating and +113% in delivery over last year. The network averaged 735,000 total viewers, up +62% over YAGO, with a median age of 46. Among the network’s core A40-54 audience, the premiere earned a 0.5/260,000, an increase of +62% in rating and +69% in delivery over last year.
Additionally, TVLand.com experienced huge traffic gains to the High School Reunion microsite. During the 10 p.m. on-air premiere, daily unique visitors nearly doubled the previous hour, and after the show ended, uniques grew another +23% percent. In comparison to the previous day, the microsite garnered a +66% jump in traffic while all the cast pages generated triple digit gains. The number one page of the day on TVLand.com was a photo album taken by Kat, one of the High School Reunion alumni. Also, the site witnessed increases to the home page, daily schedule and message board pages. Page views were up +37% over the previous day, +86% over four weeks prior and +169% over the same date one year ago.
The six-episode series, executive produced by Mike Fleiss and Lisa Levenson (The Bachelor), is set on a sun-drenched multi-million dollar Maui estate and revolves around a reunion getaway for alums from JJ Pearce High, several of whom have not seen each other since graduating 20 years ago. Whether opening some painful wounds inflicted by the resident bully or rekindling old romances, the series gives viewers a front row seat to the emotional and compelling rollercoaster ride throughout its six-week run.
