ANIMAL PLANET'S "PUPPY BOWL XII" WAS #1 ON CABLE AMONG ADULTS 25-54 AND WOMEN 18-49 ON SUNDAY

-Animal Planet #2 in ALL OF TV in Key Demos from 3-5PM During PUPPY BOWL, Behind Only CBS' Super Bowl Coverage-

(Silver Spring, Md.) - The Denver Broncos may have won the Lombardi on Sunday, but the much-anticipated Animal Planet's PUPPY BOWL XII featuring 84 adoptable puppies, dominated as the #1 non-sports telecast on all of cable among Adults 25-54 and Women 18-49 on Sun., Feb. 7 from 3-5PM in L+SD. The 12-hour PUPPY BOWL marathon that aired from 3PM on Sunday Feb. 7 to 3AM on Monday, Feb. 8 earned 9.3 Total Unique Viewers P2+.

Animal Planet's PUPPY BOWL XII ranked #2 in ALL OF TELEVISION from 3-5PM among Adults 25-54, Women 25-54 and Women 18-49 for the fourth consecutive year, no exclusions, beating programming on ABC, NBC, FOX and all of cable, behind only CBS and its Super Bowl coverage.

In the social and digital arenas, PUPPY BOWL XII continued its championship to reign as the #1 social non-Super Bowl event in all of television (Source: Nielsen SocialGuide). #PuppyBowl was a Twitter Trending Topic, and the event also trended on both Facebook and Instagram. Puppy adoption searches spiked when PUPPY BOWL XII premiered (Source: Google Trends), and celebrities didn't let the puppies have all the fun with many joining Team Ruff and Team Fluff, including Bravo's Andy Cohen, actress Reese Witherspoon, comedian Whitney Cummings, and a big shout to #PuppyBowl from FOX's "The Simpsons" on Twitter. Celebrity dogs such as @marniethedog, @chloetheminifrenchie, @hamiltonpug, @roofusandkilo, among many others showed their team spirit on Instagram.

Animal Planet's PUPPY BOWL XII has become as much a part of the world's biggest sporting event as the halftime performance and memorable commercials. The program features two teams of the fluffiest and cuddliest line barkers and wide retrievers as they take their paws to the grid iron for a playful game full of ear tugs, tackles and touchdowns. Barking their way to the end zone, Team Ruff and Team Fluff kept viewers glued to the canine gridiron, with Team Ruff retrieving the ultimate title.

Animal Planet worked with 44 rescue groups in 25 states across the U.S. The network has been hosting Road to the Puppy Bowl adoption events throughout the year in local communities across the country and is responsible for thousands of pet adoptions. To date, the puppies appearing in PUPPY BOWL have found loving forever homes.

PUPPY BOWL XII was produced for Animal Planet by Discovery Studios. Simon Morris is the co-executive producer and Josh Wilkins is the vice president of production for Discovery Studios. For Animal Planet, Melinda Toporoff is the executive producer and Pat Dempsey is the associate producer.

Source: Nielsen, LSD. Timeselot ranking is time period based. Cume based on 6 min qualifier.