"Mad Men" premiere sets ratings record
The cast of ''Mad Men '' pose after winning the award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series at the 15th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles January 25, 2009.
Credit: Reuters/Danny Moloshok
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - All the Emmys, critics' raves and marketing efforts are starting to pay off for AMC's beloved drama series "Mad Men."
Sunday night's Season 3 premiere saw a significant viewership increase -- up 33 percent from last year, to 2.8 million viewers. That's the show's largest audience ever.
Adding the viewership numbers from the premiere and AMC's two repeats of the episode, "Mad Men" garnered 4 million viewers, up 29 percent from the cumulative audience for last year's premiere episode. AMC also noted that its create-your-own "Mad Men" avatar was downloaded 485,000 times.
This weekend E! set records too, with the premiere of "Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami," which became the network's most-watched series since 2002's "The Anna Nicole Show" with 2.7 million viewers. That's 60 percent more viewers than the last "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" premiere.
Two Lifetime series hit season highs: the new one-hour comedy drama "Drop Dead Diva" (3 million viewers) and "Army Wives" (4 million).
(Editing by SheriLinden at Reuters)
