‘THE BIBLE’ mini-series on The History Channel shattered records and opened eyes to how powerful the Word of God is and how strong the Christian audience is. God bless Mark Burnett and Roma Downey.
Mark Burnett’s ‘The Bible’ begets record ratings
History Channel’s The Bible premiere delivered divine Nielsen ratings Sunday night, thumping all of the major broadcast shows.
The miniseries’ two-hour cable network premiere was seen by 13.1 million viewers and scored a 3.3 rating among adults 18-49. That’s more viewers and a higher demo rating than any show on the major broadcast networks last night and ranks as cable’s most-watched entertainment telecast this year. If you include the show’s repeat, the viewership rises to 14.8 million for the night.
“The success of The Bible has catapulted History into one of the most powerful brands across media landscape and we could not be more thrilled and more proud,” Nancy Dubuc, president of A&E Networks. “Clearly there is a nationwide groundswell that was waiting for this moment … An enormous debt of gratitude goes out to everyone and the amazing effort put forth to drive us to this amazing win. Clearly the passion for this project has resonated with our viewers and across the nation. We are thrilled, and the story is only just beginning.”
The Bible couldn’t quite top History’s previous record-setting mini Hatfields & McCoys, however, which had a stunning 13.9 million viewers for its premiere last year. And last night’s 18-49 demo rating is almost certainly lower than AMC’s mega-hit The Walking Dead (those ratings will not be released until tomorrow), though The Bible very likely had more viewers.
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The Bible is a 10-hour live-action miniseries executive produced by Survivor and Celebrity Apprentice executive producer Mark Burnett along with his wife Roma Downey (Touched by an Angel). Burnett has said he made the special effects-filled project to help tackle “Bible illiteracy” among young people. “In school, you have to know a certain amount of Shakespeare, but no Bible,” Burnett told the Christian Science Monitor. “So there’s got to be a way to look at it from a pure literature point of view. If it wasn’t for the Bible, arguably Shakespeare wouldn’t have written those stories.”
Burnett predicted that The Bible, once you include home video and international sales, will eventually be seen by more viewers “than any of our other series combined over the next three decades.” It’s off to a good start — among the broadcast shows that The Bible out-performed among total audience last night was Burnett’s own All-Star Celebrity Apprenticepremiere on NBC which returned to a disappointing 5.1 million viewers.
“We could not be more thrilled with this out of the gate success,” said Downey and Burnett in a statement. “The world is watching right now and we are incredibly humbled by the reaction to the series. This No. 1 series is a tribute to all those who have helped us to spread the Word. Ultimately The Bible will be seen and felt by billions around the globe …Today, more people are discussing God’s chosen people — Moses and Abraham — in one day than ever before.”
Also last night, History’s first scripted series Vikings delivered 6.2 million viewers for the premiere and 8.2 million for the night.
The Bible‘s strong ratings performance comes despite the project garnering some poor reviews from TV critics; EW’s own Darren Franich called The Bible a “cheesefest” in this week’s issue. What do you think of History’s big Bible numbers?
(insidetv.com)
TV Ratings: ‘The Bible’ Brings 13.1 Million to
History, ‘Vikings’ Opens to 6.2 Million
UPDATED: Part 1 of the religious mini ranks as cable’s top
entertainment broadcast of 2013, while the network’s scripted
debut marked the year’s biggest launch.
History had a big night with the debuts of docudrama miniseries The Bible and scripted series Vikings. The former brought in 13.1 million viewers in its inaugural telecast, while the latter opened to a strong to 6.2 million.
Ranking as cable television’s top entertainment broadcast of the year, The Bible‘s first two-hour installment also averaged 4.6 million adults 25-54 — giving the network its biggest hauls since last summer’s juggernaut mini, Hatfields & McCoys, by both counts.
“Leading into the premiere, we had the best day ever on History.com, and The Bible trended No. 1 on Twitter,” noted A+E Networks entertainment and media president Nancy Dubuc. “Clearly there is a nationwide groundswell that was waiting for this moment.”
The Bible, a 10-hour mini that will continue airing Sundays on History through Easter, was created and executive produced by Mark Burnett and wife Roma Downey, who also stars as the Virgin Mary.
As History’s first scripted series — and second scripted effort after Hatfields & McCoys —Vikings stands as more of a long-term investment for the cable network — and its launch, while less than The Bible‘s, is no less significant.
STORY: A+E’s Nancy Dubuc on ‘Liz & Dick’: I’d Do It Again
The time slot premiere also brought 2.7 million adults 25-54 and 2.5 million adults 18-49 — placing it above all competition on broadcast TV and making it cable’s biggest launch of the year among total viewers and the older adults demo.
“Vikings is an incredible win for History, our first scripted series,” added Dubuc. “We began this journey over six years ago, when we set sail to broaden the genre of History and now we are the only cable network to have achieved this amazing level of success in both nonfiction and scripted genres. … We knew our audience had an appetite for this unexpected storytelling and it was a big bet that paid off.”
Vikings‘ 10-episode first season comes to History from MGM TV and executive producersMichael Hirst and Morgan O’Sullivan (The Tudors), John Weber of Take 5 Productions, Sherry Marsh, Alan Gasmer and James Flynn — with Julian P. Hobbsand the recently promoted Dirk Hoogstra as the executives in charge of production for History. It stars Gabriel Byrne, Travis Fimmel, Katheryn Winnick and Jessalyn Gilsig, among others.
History shattered network records in 2012 with the three-day miniseries Hatfields &McCoys, which rose to 14.3 million viewers in its final night.
Email: Michael.OConnell@THR.com; Twitter: @MikeyLikesTV