ANIMAL PLANET'S "RIVER MONSTERS" CONTINUES TO SNARE RECORD-SETTING AUDIENCES DURING THIRD SEASON

Sunday Night's Third Installment Scored with Young Viewers to Make Ratings History on Network

(New York, New York, April 26, 2011) -- Biologist and extreme angler Jeremy Wade continues to reel in viewers at a record-setting pace in the new season of RIVER MONSTERS. Sunday evening's installment where he travels to Argentina to catch the largest freshwater river monster he's encountered - called "Silent Assassin" - was the highest rated episode of the RIVER MONSTERS franchise among P18-49 (1.0), M18-49 (1.2), P18-34 (1.1) and M18-34 (1.5). It was also the third most-watched episode of RIVER MONSTERS (behind "Killer Catfish" and "Death Ray"), delivering 1.713M P2+ viewers.

Other ratings and viewership highlights of note include:

"Silent Assassin" is Animal Planet's best performing regularly airing telecast ever among P18-34 (599K).

It also ranks among Animal Planet's top 5 regularly airing telecasts ever among M18-49 (#2, 676K) and P18-49 (#5, 1.05M).

On Sunday, RIVER MONSTERS ranked among the top 10 ad-supported cable telecasts of the night among M18-49 (6th, 676K), P18-34 (9th, 599K) and M18-34 (7th, 414K).

RIVER MONSTERS also helped Animal Planet become the #1 rated ad-supported cable network in the 10 PM hour on Sunday among M18-49 (excluding sports, tied). Overall, River Monsters (season three) is averaging delivery gains vs. season two levels among the following demos: P18-49 (+10%), M18-49 (+17%), P18-34 (+25%), M18-34 (+28%) and W18-34 (+21%). RIVER MONSTERS airs Sundays at 10 PM.

RIVER MONSTERS is produced for Animal Planet by Icon Films. Harry and Laura Marshall are the executive producers for Icon Films, and Lisa Lucas is the executive producer for Animal Planet. Charlie Foley is vice president of development for Animal Planet.