E! issued the following press release:
E! DELIVERS YEAR-OVER-YEAR PRIMETIME GROWTH ACROSS KEY DEMOS IN MAY
TOTAL VIEWERSHIP INCREASES BY +7%
Total Divas, E! News and Giuliana & Bill Drive Gains
Los Angeles, CA, May 29, 2014 – Powered by the return of Total Divas and the continued success of E! News and other core franchises, E! posted year-over-year gains in Primetime among Total Viewers and all its key target demos.
Returning series Total Divas is one key driver of growth, out-delivering year-ago programming across all key demos by impressive triple digit growth up to +135% in Total Viewers (1.0 Million), +103% in Women 18-34 (252,000), and +142% in Adults 18-49 (628,000). Total Divas is pacing as E!’s best sophomore original series in two years (since May 2012) and is the network’s second-most watched original program after Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Total Divas also ranks as a Top 5 ad-supported cable show on Sundays 9pm to 10pm in Women 18-34 (#3) and Adults 18-34 (#5).
A big pop culture-fueled month of coverage elevated E! News by double-digits year-over-year across all key demos in May, led by younger women: +17% in Total Viewers (462,000), +48% in Women 18-34 (142,000), and +13% in Adults 18-49 (248,000). This was the best month for E! News since February in Women 18-34. Complimentary series, Live from E!, outperformed year-ago programming by equally impressive amounts, also powered by younger women: +15% in Total Viewers (290,000), +83% in Women 18-34 (95,000) and +17% in Adults 18-49 (162,000).
New this year to E!, Giuliana & Bill has improved its Tuesday 8:00-9:00pm time period exponentially since joining the schedule last March. This month, the show delivered over half a million viewers and more than doubled its year-ago time slot across all targets including Total Viewers (+144%, 518,000), Women 18-34 (+126%, 131,000) and Adults 18-49 (+112%, 261,000).
E!’s growth continues across digital. May-to-date (based on internal data), E! Digital (Eonline.com and mobile) has already delivered its eighteenth consecutive month of double digit Eonline.com and triple digit mobile audience yearly gains with mobile continuing to fuel growth. Mobile web posted its second-highest monthly uniques on record (20 Million) fueled by record-high event traffic for the Met Gala and Billboard Music Awards, and destination events driving some of Eonline’s strongest days to-date such as the Kanye West and Kim Kardashian Wedding (5/24/14). Average weekly show packages were also on the upswing this month for E!’s Total Divas (+62%, 115,000 vs. Season 1), Giuliana & Bill (+25%, 37,000), and other content.
At the end of the month, the “Congrats to Kim and Kanye” Kardashians marathons (airing May 23rd to 26th) reached over 7.0 Million total unique viewers on E!, outperforming their respective prior four week time period averages, most of them by double-digit percentages. The marathons drove record performance on air and online both in the weeks leading up to the wedding and in the days after. Eonline averaged 6.2 Million uniques over the last two weeks, up +20% vs the prior month. Mobile uniques averaged 7.8 Million over last two weeks, up +48%. The wedding was record-breaking for digital in the days that followed, scoring the biggest day ever in Eonline mobile web traffic on May 27th with 3.1 Million uniques, up +161% versus 2014-to-date average.
E! shows remain among the most talked about on Twitter. Total Divas averaged in the Top 2 most social series and @eonline maintained its #1 Klout score (social influence) in Entertainment News and TV Networks (tied only with CNN and ESPN). Versus last May, Primetime growth among Total Viewers was a robust +7% (398,000) led by Women 18-34 (+8%, 105,000) which boosted E!’s other key targets.
The momentum continues as Summer on E! begins on Sunday, June 8th when Keeping Up with the Kardashians returns. Immediately following is the new original series “Escape Club.” And back by popular demand The Soup returns with live new episodes beginning Wednesday, June 4th with host Joel McHale leading the comedic chaos, and E! News heads to The Grove to shoot new summer segments under the sun at one of Los Angeles’ trendiest spots.
TV Source: Nielsen Media Research Live + Same Day 000s, Primetime=M-Su 6p-12a unless stated otherwise, and Total Day=M-Su 7a-4a, strict dayparts excluding breakouts. Total Divas compared to year-ago original programming on Sunday night with percentage changes based on WWRLD premieres. Programming excludes repeats, includes originals only. Best original sophomore / season 2 program on E! since May 2012 (5/13/12) based on 000s. TV Ranks based on ad-supported cable within the time period. Kardashian Marathons, Live + Same Day Reach on P2+ 000s, 5/23-5/26/14. Digital Source: Overall E! Digital performance based on internal Adobe Analytics May 2014 to date (5/1-5/27/14, 1p); show performance based on average weekly performance premiere week through Sunday 5/25/14. Giuliana & Bill is pacing above the network’s recent first run (S1) season weekly average uniques by +25% digitally (37,000). Kardashian Marathons: Calendar May 5/1-5/27/14, Adobe Analytics – Eonline.com, Eonline mobile web, Eonline mobile app (excluding legacy)