"Buffy Premiere Breaks Ratings Records"
Source: Zap2It.com
URL: http://tv.zap2it.com/news/tvnewsdaily.html?20943
Date: 10.03.01
He who laughs last, laughs longest and as of now UPN is still laughing.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer's move to UPN turned out to be a smarter move than anticipated. Although a number of TV insiders speculated that the paranormal drama's move from its five-year home at the WB would hurt its ratings, the opposite proved the case when the show's debut on the network scored its highest ratings ever in key demographics.
According to Nielsen Media's fast national ratings, "Buffy's" two-hour fifth season premiere drew 7. 7 million viewers -- the second highest audience turnout in the history of the series. The premiere also topped last year's performance on The WB, pulling the highest ratings for the show on a Tuesday ("Buffy" originally aired on The WB's Monday night schedule).
On Tuesday (Oct. 2), Buffy Summer's return from the dead nabbed a 3.8/10 rating among adults 18-49, a 4.8/14 among adults 18-34, also breaking records in men 18-49, women 18-49 and women 18-34. In households the show pulled a 4.3/7.
The ratings also broke records for UPN, showing an increase of 124 percent over last year's performance. "Buffy" earned the network's best Tuesday ratings ever across all key demographics.
Proving for once and for all that The WB was foolish to let go of the series, "Buffy's" return beat any single broadcast of any WB program in the history of the network among adults 18-34, men 18-34 and men 18-49.