HGTV Design Star Breaks Ratings Records in Fourth Season Run

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. [For Immediate Release - September 16, 2009] A strong performance by HGTV Design Star led HGTV to a #5 P25-54 ranking among ad supported cable in prime time on Sunday, September 13, 2009 -- despite stiff competition from MTV's Video Music Awards. Specifically, the finale episode of HGTV Design Star delivered a 2.6 HH Rtg/1.4 P25-54 Rtg, making it the highest rated prime time episode in the history of the network among HHs. During the episode, Antonio Ballatore, 40, a set designer from Los Angeles, was crowned the winner and awarded a contract for his own show on HGTV.

In fact, the HGTV Design Star finale, which also was the highest rated reality competition show on Sunday night on ad-supported cable among P25-54 and W25-54, performed well among key younger demos, with P18-49 garnering a 1.17 Rtg, an increase of 13% over the prior episode and W18-49 posting a 1.58 Rtg, a 3% increase over the prior week. The episode garnered the highest ever average audience for any prime time program in the history of the network among HHs (2,516,000), P18+ (3,030,000) and W18+ (2,270,000). On average, the finale episode delivered 3,249,000 P2+ impressions.

The fourth season of HGTV Design Star marked the highest rated season of the series yet among all key demos, including P25-54 (averaging a 1.2 rating) and W25-54 (averaging a 1.6 rating). Since the premiere episode aired on July 19, 2009, nearly 23.5 million P2 and more than 12.3 million P25-54 tuned into the fourth season of HGTV Design Star.

Bolstered by the series' performance, the fourth episode of The Property Shop at 11P garnered its highest ratings yet of its second season among key adult demos.

HGTV posted a #12 P25-54 ranking and #4 W25-54 among ad supported cable for the week of September 7, 2009 in prime time.

About HGTV

HGTV, America's leader in home and lifestyle programming, is distributed to more than 95 million U.S. households and is one of cable's top-rated networks. HGTV's website, HGTV.com, is the nation's leading online home-and-garden destination which attracts an average of 5 million unique visitors per month. HGTV owns 33 percent of HGTV Canada and provides much of the Canadian network's daily programming.

The network's branded programming also can be seen in 120 territories across all seven continents and its selected programming is available to military personnel onboard Navy ships and through American Forces Radio & Television Service (AFRTS), which services more than 1,000 outlets in over 175 countries. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., with offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York and San Francisco, HGTV is wholly owned by Scripps Networks, which also operates Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living Network and Great American Country.