ANIMAL PLANET'S CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED "THE LAST ALASKANS" SCORES A SERIES HIGH WITH 1.8 MILLION VIEWERS IN SEASON FINALE

- THE LAST ALASKANS Ranks as Animal Planet's #1 New Series in 2015 -

(New York) - The July 12 season finale of Animal Planet's breakout docuseries THE LAST ALASKANS drew in a whopping 1.8M P2+ viewers based on Live+3 performance. The finale episode, "The End of Darkness," is the series' most-watched of the season.

THE LAST ALASKANS, which averaged an impressive 1.5M P2+ viewers during its first season, ranks as Animal Planet's #1 new series of 2015 to date among major key demos, including P25-54 (498K) and M25-54 (289K). This total viewer performance ties THE LAST ALASKANS with RIVER MONSTERS as the network's top series of the year to date.

Animal Planet recently renewed THE LAST ALASKANS for a second season to air in 2016.

THE LAST ALASKANS documents the lives of some of the most isolated people in America - the last of their kind - as they struggle and thrive in Alaska's untouched wilderness, which is located hundreds of miles from roads and civilization. In 1980, the US government banned new human occupation in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, a protected area home to thousands of native animals and pristine terrain that's roughly the size of South Carolina. Currently, only a handful of families spread across seven permitted cabins is allowed to remain in the refuge. In fewer than 100 years, all remaining permits will reach expiration, and there will be no human presence left.

THE LAST ALASKANS is produced for Animal Planet by Half Yard Productions. For Half Yard Productions: John Jones, Abby Greensfelder and Sean Gallagher are the executive producers; John Collin is the supervising producer; Jared McGilliard is the showrunner and co-executive producer; and James Campbell is the co-executive producer. For Animal Planet, Keith Hoffman is the executive producer, and Sarah Russell is the associate producer. The series was developed by Animal Planet's Kurt Tondorf.

Animal Planet, a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment. Animal Planet consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 94 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; Animal Planet L!VE, the go-to digital destination for round-the-clock, unfiltered access to the animal kingdom; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service, and merchandising extensions.

*All data is reported on Nielsen Live +3 data stream.