HISTORY’s ambitious Sunday night line-up proved to be a monster success, owning the top two specialty programs of the night. It was a night of biblical ratings for Mark Burnett’s latest project, The Bible, with over 1 million viewers (V2+) and over 450,000 viewers (A25-54), while the Canadian original drama Vikings had a thunderous start with 849,000 (V2+) and 417,000(A25-54)*.
Viewers flocked to HISTORY to sample both new series, with 2.5 million viewers coming to the channel for The Bible and almost 1.8 million for Vikings. In total over 3 million viewers tuned in to HISTORY between 8 and 11 pm*.
“We knew we had a powerhouse Sunday night line-up with The Bible and Vikings and last night’s numbers solidify it,” said Barbara Williams, Senior Vice President, Content, Shaw Media. “It’s a thrill to see our loyal fan base respond so well to our addition of smart and intriguing historical dramas.”
Other big achievements include:
- HISTORY’s full-day average is the highest this broadcast year for both V2+ and A25-54.**
- The Bible is the highest single specialty episode this broadcast year.**
- Vikings is the highest single Canadian specialty episode this broadcast year.**
- HISTORY was the number one specialty channel for the day across multiple key demos (A25-54, A18-49).*
- Vikings retained 81% of viewing levels for V2+, and 92% for A25-54 from The Bible audience.*
* BBM Canada PPM data 3/3/13
** BBM Canada PPM data 8/27/12-3/3/13