OVER 2 MILLION VIEWERS TUNED IN TO WATCH JAY MCCARROLL WIN BRAVO'S HIT SERIES "PROJECT RUNWAY" CONTEST
TWO-HOUR FINALE GARNERS RECORD RATINGS:
BRAVO WAS #1 AMONG ALL CABLE NETS LAST NIGHT 8-11 PM IN ADULTS 18-49
SEASON CONCLUDES WITH BRAVO'S HIGHEST-EVER WEDNESDAY 8-11 P.M.
'RUNWAY' WRAPS WITH MORE THAN FIVE TIMES ITS PREMIERE AUDIENCE TO WALK OFF WITH BRAVO'S TOP NUMBERS OF THE 2004-05 SEASON
BRAVOTV.COM TO OFFER EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE OF AUSTIN SCARLETT'S 'DECOY' RUNWAY SHOW
NEW YORK -- February 24, 2005 -- Over two million people tuned-in to watch last night's two-hour finale of Bravo's runaway hit in which designer Jay McCarroll was crowned the winner of "Project Runway," and peaked at 2.5 million viewers in the final quarter hour. The season finale delivered the network's highest ratings results ever in the Wednesday 8-11 p.m. time period. With 500% growth over its total-viewer and key demographic premiere numbers in December, cable's hottest show delivered the highest numbers for any Bravo telecast for the 2004-05 season to date.
The season finale made Bravo the #1 most watched cable network last night from 8:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m. for A18-49 (delivering 996,000), just edging sister network USA (995,000), and came in #2 A18-34, and #3 in A25-54.. Last night's program (which aired 9:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m., ET/PT), ranked as the #1 program on Bravo this season, pulling in 2,010,000 viewers P2+ , with an average HH coverage. rating of 1.90; A25-54: 1,183,000; A18-49-1,313,000.
Other highlights:
Project Runway finale is the highest rated telecast in key demos (HH, P18-49/P25-54/P18-34, total viewers) in network history to air in the Wed 9PM-11PM time period.
Project Runway is the highest rated Bravo original series in all key measures (HH rating, P18-49/P25-54/P18-34 viewers, total viewers P2+) since 2003 and is the #3 program in Bravo history in all key demo measures (HH rating, P18-49/P25-54/P18-34 viewers, total viewers P2+).
Project Runway experienced phenomenal growth this season. Comparing its first original episode to the season finale the program was up +414% in HH Cvg rating, +430% in P25-54 viewers, +500% in P18-49 viewers, +320% in P18-34 viewers and +468% in total viewers P2+.
Project Runway encore at 11PM drove 316,000 P25-54s and 275,000 P18-49 viewers to the set (improving quarterly time period averages by +85% and +76% respectively).
Project Runway is also the youngest program 34.4 (median age) in network history.
Jay's New York Fashion Week collection caught the judges' eye as he was awarded the grand prize over finalists Kara Saun and Wendy Pepper. As part of the prize, Jay's designs will be photographed for ELLE by the magazine's world-renowned Publication Director, Gilles Bensimon. He will also receive $100,000 in seed money too help him launch his own line and a mentorship from the Banana Republic Design Team.
As a special bonus to "Project Runway" fans, BravoTV.com will provide exclusive footage of contestant Austin Scarlett's New York Fashion Week runway show. Due to the timing of Fashion Week, the "Project Runway" finale was set to tape before Austin's elimination had aired. In order to keep his elimination a secret, he was asked to present a "decoy" collection, never intended for inclusion in the series. BravoTV.com now offers this footage to fans of this unique and talented designer.
"Project Runway" is executive produced by Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz of Magical Elves ("Project Greenlight," "Last Comic Standing,") and Heidi Klum. Klum's managers and fashion world experts Desiree Gruber and Jane Cha of NYC-based Full Picture also executive produced the series. Barbara Schneeweiss, director of television, and Jennifer Berman, senior vice president of production and development, oversee the production on behalf of Miramax Television. "Project Runway" is sponsored by Banana Republic, Cotton, Inc. and L'Oreal Paris.
Bravo is a program service of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBC Universal one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Bravo has been a NBC Cable Network since December 2002 and was the first television service dedicated to film and the performing arts when it launched in December 1980.
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