Last night's season premiere of Project Runway, and the series debut on Lifetime after switching from Bravo averaged 4.2 million viewers and a 3.3 household rating and was the highest-rated premiere ever for Lifetime. On a household ratings basis, that's up 32 percent from the show's season five premiere on Bravo, according to Lifetime.
Among women 18-49, Project Runway averaged a 3.2 rating, that's 28 percent higher than its last season premiere on Bravo.
That's especially good news for Lifetime which was looking to Runway to bolster its numbers among younger viewers.
“We are thrilled about Project Runway’s very strong premiere, which surpassed all of our expectations,” said Andrea Wong, President and CEO of Lifetime Networks.
Updated with full press release below:
Lifetime Television's 'Project Runway' Becomes Highest Rated Premiere Ever for the Series and in the Network's History
Hit Unscripted Program Beats Cable Competition Among All Key Demos, with 3.2 Rating in W18-49, 3.8 Rating in W18-34 and 3.3 Household Rating with August 20 Return
Project Runway: ALL-STAR CHALLENGE Two-Hour Special Generates 2.2 Rating in W18-49 and 2.3 Household Rating; All-New Companion Series MODELS OF THE RUNWAY Secures 1.4 Rating Among W18-49 and 1.6 Household Rating
Lifetime Digital Sets Records in Unique Visitors and Visits; Records More Than 4.6 Million Page Views
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 21 -- The eagerly anticipated premiere of Lifetime Television's Emmy(R)-nominated and Peabody(R) Award-winning hit series Project Runway generated a 3.2 rating among Women 18-49 (a 28% increase over the series' season five premiere) and a 3.3 rating in Households (up 32% from the season five premiere) on Thursday, August 20, at 10PM ET/PT, according to Nielsen Research. The Show beat all cable competition in key demos and made the program's return to television the highest-rated premiere for the series ever and in the Network's 25-year history, including Women 18-34 (3.8) and Adults 18-34 (2.5). The Program averaged more than 4.2 million Total Viewers and was the highest rated competition reality series premiere on cable this year.
Project Runway's all-new companion series, Models of the Runway, which premiered at 11PM ET/PT, generated a 1.4 rating among Women 18-49 and a 1.6 Household rating, averaging 1.9 million Total Viewers. Lifetime kicked off the launches of Project Runway and Models of the Runway with the two-hour special, Project Runway: All-Star Challenge. The spirited competition, which featured eight fan favorites and
Project Runway superstars competing against one another, premiered at 8PM ET/PT and started the evening in style, securing a 2.2 rating in Women 18-49 and a 2.3 Household rating, as well as averaging 2.9 million Total Viewers. Last night's winner of Project Runway: All-Star Challenge was Daniel Vosovic.
"We are thrilled about Project Runway's very strong premiere, which surpassed all of our expectations," said Andrea Wong, President and CEO of Lifetime Networks. "Congratulations to our partners The Weinstein Company, Miramax Films, Bunim-Murray Productions, Full Picture Productions and Marie Claire, and Project Runway's loyal viewers for this successful launch. We can't wait to watch Project Runway and Models of the Runway along with them this season."
"This is only the beginning of an exciting season, and I want to send a huge 'thank you' to everyone involved with the Series, especially Heidi, Tim, Nina, Michael, Andrea Wong, JoAnn Alfano, Lew Goldstein, Bob Bibb and all the team at Lifetime," said Harvey Weinstein, Co-Chairman of The Weinstein Company. "Not only has this premiere generated the series' highest rating, but the reviews have been the best we have ever received. I was thrilled to get our friends Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Fergie, Lindsay Lohan and Diane von Furstenberg to help us launch this season, and I look forward to many more surprises in the coming months."
Lifetime Digital also generated strong numbers yesterday, setting company records with its highest-ever number of unique visitors (454,000) and visits (558,000), as well as more than 4.6 million page views, according to online tracking by Lifetime Internal Web Logs (Omniture). The impact of Project Runway was not limited to Lifetime Digital platforms, as "Project Runway" and "#projectrunway" were the top two trending topics on Twitter in the 10PM ET hour.
Last night's strong launch for Project Runway solidifies Lifetime's standing as the top-rated women's cable television network across key demographics, including Women 18-34, Women 18-49, Women 25-54 and Women 18+. The Network's hit drama Army Wives is averaging 3.6 million viewers this season and is the top rated program in Lifetime's history. Drop Dead Diva, the comedic drama that was recently renewed for its second season, premiered July 12 and is Lifetime's highest rated original drama premiere since the 2007 debut of Army Wives. Together, Army Wives and Drop Dead Diva make Lifetime the highest-rated and most watched Network in the Sunday, 9-11PM time period among Women 18-49. Lifetime is also the number one-rated and most watched ad-supported cable network for original movie premieres among Women 18+.*
ABOUT Project Runway AND MODELS OF THE RUNWAY
Hosted by supermodel and fashion maven Heidi Klum, the hit series Project Runway provides budding designers with an opportunity to launch their careers in fashion, under the watchful eye of mentor and Liz Claiborne Chief Creative Officer Tim Gunn. The wildly successful competition reality series has proven to be one of television's most talked about shows and was the highest rated unscripted competition on all of cable for 2008.
Models of the Runway, an exciting new companion series to Project Runway, will give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the reality competition - from the models' perspective. Viewers can experience the drama, anxiety, joys, tears and frustrations as the models themselves face elimination each week and compete for a cash prize and photo spread in Marie Claire magazine.
Produced by The Weinstein Company, Miramax Films, Bunim-Murray Productions and Full Picture Productions, Project Runway and Models of the Runway are executive produced by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Co-Chairmen of The Weinstein Company, and Jon Murray and Sara Rea of Bunim-Murray Productions (The Real World). Heidi Klum; Desiree Gruber and Jane Cha of New York City-based Full Picture also executive produce both series. Barbara Schneeweiss oversees the production on behalf of The Weinstein Company.
ABOUT LIFETIME TELEVISION
Lifetime is a diverse, multi-media company, committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming that celebrates, entertains and supports women. Through its award-winning public affairs initiatives, the Company also advocates a wide range of issues affecting women and their families. Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Network - cable's two highest-rated women's channels - Lifetime Real Women and Lifetime Digital (which includes myLifetime.com, LMN.tv, Lifetime Games, Roiworld.com, DressUpChallenge.com and MothersClick.com) are part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a 50/50 joint venture of Hearst Corporation and The Walt Disney Company.
*Excluding networks with only one movie in 2009.
Lifetime needed this, and it delivered.
Perhaps women in the 25-54 realm (and the over 60 female crowd) should be worried that this is a sign that the network is transitioning…
Very good ratings for Project Runway on Lifetime, all the heavy promotion paid off and considering it was off the air for over a year, it could come back with lower ratings.
Lifetime should have picked up Guiding Light. Also, how come cable networks never air soaps- save for SOAP net which is a niche network.
I agree with Shem, Lifetime should’ve picked up Guiding Light. I think their rating would’ve been just as high as Project Runway’s. They missed the boat on that one. I still think GL has a chance of getting picked up by somebody but the question is when?
This is actually a disappointment for Runway considering it got closer to 6 million viewers on Bravo and Lifetime would do better if they actually started programming new made-for-TV movies again on Mondays.
Actually this is way above the ratings for the final season on Bravo. Read the other sights that specifically say this. Bravo is just full of garbage.
Project runway was a hit… mostly because the winner Christopher Straub is amazingly awesome, sweet, hot and adorable. This cast is FANtastic* and I think it will be the best ever. My money is on Christopher. What a dress!!!
PLEASE Keep Frasier on at micnight..not this this show should be on earlier for younger people PLEASE don’t change the line up you have had… who cares abt this stuff at late night?