NAT GEO WILD CELEBRATES SECOND MOST POPULAR WEEK OF SHARK TV!

THIRD ANNUAL SHARKFEST UP 60 PERCENT IN TOTAL VIEWERS FROM LAST YEAR

When Second Place Feels Like First!

(WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 13, 2015) The 2015 Super Bowl runner-up Seattle Seahawks. NBA second place Cleveland Cavaliers. The World Series almost champ Kansas City Royals. The Japanese National Women's Soccer Team. And Nat Geo WILD! We are proud to stand on the shoulders of these great competitors, and take a bite out of a summer TV staple. At the finish of this year's annual week of shark TV, SharkFest proudly finished as the second highest rated network airing programming honoring the apex predator.

"You know what they say about sharks," said Nat Geo WILD SharkFest mascot, Shark on the Street. "It's not the ones you see that you have to worry about. It's the ones you don't see."

This year SharkFest posted impressive gains among viewers P2+ in primetime (+60%) compared with a year ago. According to Nielsen, SharkFest also increased its primetime audience (+100%) compared with the previous six weeks, and its P25-54 viewers (+44%). After all, what's better than a week? Clearly, a festival!

Nat Geo WILD's SharkFest event was helped along this year by an irreverent on-air promotional video that AdWeek called "hilarious," which worked to build buzz around the network's third annual dip into shark-infested waters, capturing the attention of the national media, including the "Today Show," "CBS News," "Inside Edition," The Atlantic and others.

"We're not that other week of SharkTV," comedian Rory Scovel quips in the spot. "We want you to confuse the two. And you will. And we don't care - because it gets us ratings." And it did.

"It's the same friggin' sharks anyway," Scovel goes on. "Sharks cannot sign an exclusive contract with a network ... we're pretty certain on that." Still pretty certain.

Nat Geo WILD is already hard at work on next year's SharkFest, premiering the same time as that other week (when they announce it).

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About Nat Geo WILD

Experience the best, most intimate encounters with wildlife ever seen on television. Backed by its unparalleled reputation for quality and blue-chip programming, Nat Geo WILD is dedicated to providing a unique insight into the natural world, and the amazing creatures that inhabit it. From the most remote environments, to the forbidding depths of our oceans, to the protected parks on our doorsteps, Nat Geo WILD will use spectacular cinematography and compelling storytelling to take viewers on unforgettable journeys into the wild world. Launched in 2006, Nat Geo WILD is part of National Geographic Channels International (NGCI) and is available in more than 90 countries and 100 million homes. Nat Geo WILD HD launched in the U.K. in March 2009, and is also available in Greece, Latin America, Poland, Spain and Russia. Further expansion is expected globally. For more information, please visit www.natgeotv.com.