or


[12/08/15 - 12:07 PM]
Discovery's Prime Time Premiere of "Racing Extinction" Is Most Watched Cable Documentary Film in More Than Three Years
Discovery further spins the numbers for Wednesday, December 2.

[via press release from Discovery]

DISCOVERY'S PRIME TIME PREMIERE OF "RACING EXTINCTION" IS MOST WATCHED CABLE DOCUMENTARY FILM IN MORE THAN THREE YEARS

Racing Extinction Premiere Night Grabs 11.6 Million Total Viewers in the U.S.

Film's Call to Action #StartWith1Thing Ignites on Social Media

The much anticipated global television event and Prime Time premiere of RACING EXTINCTION on Wednesday, Dec. 2 reached more than 11.5 Million Total Viewers P2+ for the U.S. simulcast in L+3.

Numbers are not yet available across all international markets; however, among those with reportable figures the current non-U.S. count is six million total viewers. This brings the current total viewership on premiere night to over 17MM and counting. Additionally, U.S. encores over the weekend were viewed by 6.6MM viewers P2+. Final reach numbers across 50 channel brands in more than 220 countries and territories will be in later next week.

The RACING EXTINCTION U.S. simulcast averaged 2.55M million Total Viewers P2+ and averaged 1.18 million Persons 25-54, which makes in the most watched cable documentary film premiere in over three years.

RACING EXTINCTION captured the attention of celebrities, activists, and policy makers and trended on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram on Dec. 2 during the premiere of the film and ranked as a top three top non-sports program in Nielsen's Social Guide for that night. 26.7 million impressions were delivered on Facebook on Dec. 2, and a total of 300 million Facebook impressions across Discovery's global campaign which began in November.

As part of Discovery Education's Virtual Field Trip, where students go beyond the classroom walls and into some of the world's most iconic locations for rich and immersive learning experiences, the RACING EXTINCTION Virtual Field Trip was seen by more than 200,000 students across the U.S. and the dynamic curriculum materials supporting the film's content, have been used by more than one million students.

Discovery Networks International partnered with Discovery/U.S. on an unprecedented half-year global promotional campaign and creative activations for RACING EXTINCTION that generated massive impressions and touched each major market in each region through media tours, film festival partnerships and large-scale consumer projections events that reached 2.2 million in-person and 3.2+ million online users leading up to premiere. Social and digital conversations with more than 105+ million views across all our platforms coupled with comprehensive on-air promotions across our portfolio resulted in meaningful local partnerships to maximize call to action messaging, including talent shout outs supporting #StartWith1Thing.

As part of Discovery's #StartWith1Thing initiative, Discovery's call to action to create a global movement behind the RACING EXTINCTION television event, Discovery partnered with numerous organizations that included Oceana, The Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife and The Humane Society International, among others, to help make a positive global impact on the environment ahead of the network's global premiere. Discovery leveraged its global premiere and additional platforms, including custom branded content, Discovery digital, social media and virtual reality and Discovery Education, along with our partners to ignite curiosity and global actions people can take to make a difference.

Ratings source: US data from The Nielsen Company, Live+3 for all but weekend encores, which are L+SD. Reach uses 1-min. qualifier, including all repeat telecasts across all networks. "Most-watched doc" claim uses 5-net 5-telecast simulcast and excl. non-films, doc series, and doc mini-series. Simulcast average is a sum of the 5 networks' 000s. International data from DNI, L+SD, P3+ or P4+ depending on the market.





  [december 2015]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
  


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[12/17/25 - 01:30 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks #1 in Total Viewers
"Nightline" also posted week-to-week increases in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54.

[12/17/25 - 06:42 AM]
Cricket Celebration Bowl Delivered Double-Digit Increases on ABC
Coverage averaged 2.3 million viewers with a peak of 3.0 million.

[12/16/25 - 02:15 PM]
FOX NFL Week 15 Scores 19.4 Million Viewers for "America's Game of the Week"
Season-to-date, the NFL on FOX is averaging 20,055,000 viewers; up +8% over last year's average (18,630,000) and its best since 2015.

[12/16/25 - 02:15 PM]
"CBS News Presents: A Town Hall with Erika Kirk" Boosts CBS' Time Period Performance in Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49
The special delivered 1.9 million viewers with 265,000 in the adults 25-54 demographic on Saturday, December 13.

[12/16/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of December 8 - "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" Cracks the Case at No. 1 in the Top 10
New comedy series "Man vs. Baby" took No. 1 on the English TV list with 19.1 million views, with the Rowan Atkinson vehicle eliciting laughs over the bumbling Trevor Bingley trying to earn money house-sitting for millionaires while a lost baby keeps him on his toes.

[12/15/25 - 09:19 AM]
Driven by Strong November Viewership, ESPN Earns Third Straight Month of Year-Over-Year Audience Growth for Weekday Studio Programming
Highlights include "The Pat McAfee Show" having its most-viewed November of all time across linear and YouTube with 445,000 average viewers per show and "NFL Live" reaching its second most-watched November since 2016 with 445,000 average viewers.

[12/12/25 - 03:04 PM]
ESPN Scored Most-Watched Jimmy V Women's Classic Ever; Men's Classic Most-Watched in Five Years
The former averaged 1.0 million viewers, peaking with 1.3 million.

[12/11/25 - 03:15 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in All Key Target Demos
The series also saw gains on the same week last year in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49.

[12/10/25 - 02:59 PM]
FOX NFL Scores Massive Week 14 Viewership
28 million viewers watched FOX Sports' Week 14 "America's Game of the Week," featuring the Green Bay Packers divisional win over the Chicago Bears.

[12/10/25 - 12:08 PM]
NBCU's November to Remember Showcases the Power of Company's Programming
"All Her Fault" became the most-watched original series launch in Peacock history with 46 million hours.

[12/10/25 - 09:54 AM]
ABC Unwraps Holiday Presentations of Fan Favorite Shows
"Dancing with the Holidays" was the top-performing holiday-themed special across the broadcast networks among Adults 18-49 in two years.

[12/09/25 - 04:11 PM]
"College GameDay" Delivers Second Most-Watched Conference Championship Episode Ever; ABC/ESPN Score Second Most-Watched Conference Championship Week Since 2014
The SEC Championship delivered 16.9 million viewers on Saturday, December 6.

[12/09/25 - 02:03 PM]
18.3 Million Viewers Tuned in for Big Ten Championship Game on FOX
Indiana's win peaked with 19,993,000 viewers from 11:00-11:15 PM ET.

[12/09/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of December 1 - "My Secret Santa" Sleigh Rides to No. 1 and "Stranger Things" Slays the Top 10 Again
The extensive four-part docuseries "Sean Combs: The Reckoning" grabbed the No. 2 spot on the TV list with 21.8 million views in its opening weekend.

[12/08/25 - 11:30 AM]
College Football on The CW Network Sees Double Digit Year-Over-Year Viewership Gains for 2025 Season
ACC football experienced the largest year-over-year growth, up 26% in total audience compared to 2024.