ANIMAL PLANET'S "WHALE WARS" NETS BEST PERFORMANCE EVER WITH "SLICED IN TWO" EPISODE

Friday Night's Premiere Seizes 1.7 Million Viewers, Most-Watched Episode Ever

(New York, New York, July 20, 2019) - Last Friday's WHALE WARS premiere "Sliced in Two," featuring the stunning collision of the Shonan Maru 2 with the Sea Shepherd's vessel Ady Gil, is the series best performing episode ever earning a 1.3 household rating and delivering 1.7M P2+ viewers. "Sliced in Two," in which Captain Pete Bethune and his Sea Shepherd crew had no choice but to abandon their sinking boat and narrowly escape the 30-degree Antarctic waters, delivered its best performance among all key demos including P25-54 (939k), P18-49 (898k), M25-54 (539k), and W25-54 (399k).

The WHALE WARS premiere ranked 3rd among all primetime cable telecasts this past Friday in both the P25-54 and M25-54 demos*. "Sliced In Two" also ranks as Animal Planet's second best regularly airing telecast ever among P2+.

The season 3 of WHALE WARS is on track to be the most watched season of the series with double-digit delivery gains to-date compared to last season's overall levels among several key demos including P2+: +17% (1.2M vs. 1.0M), P25-54: +15% (715k vs. 623k), P18-49: +15%, (714k vs. 619k), and M25-54: +25% (432k vs. 346k).

"Hot on the heels of RIVER MONSTER'S spectacular season two, WHALE WARS is having its strongest season. And this year we have more episodes than ever," said Marjorie Kaplan, president and general manager of Animal Planet. "Both of these series have become a trademark for the new Animal Planet, underscoring the Surprisingly Human evolution of our brand and our huge opportunity to engage and thrill our audiences."

The new season of WHALE WARS follows the Sea Shepherds' Whale Defense Campaign, dubbed Operation Waltzing Matilda in honor of Australia's unofficial national anthem, on their three-month journey to the South Ocean Whale Sanctuary to stop whaling that the group claims is illegal and exploits a loophole in international ocean law - a loophole which the whalers claim makes their activities legal. As in previous campaigns, the conflict between Sea Shepherd and the whalers grows more intense with each engagement -each pushing the other to the limit to fight for what they believe in. WHALE WARS follows a masterful match at the far end of the globe as both Sea Shepherd and the Japanese whalers engage in an environmental showdown with millions of dollars at stake. The team of oceanic crusaders join forces and set out to risk it all to save the whales, even if that might mean not all crew members make it back to port together

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recognized WHALE WARS last year for exploring issues of concern to our society in a compelling, emotional and insightful way by bestowing the series with a Television Academy Honor which identifies it as "television with a conscience." This year the series is nominated for a Primetime Emmy(R) for Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming.

WHALE WARS is produced for Animal Planet by The Lizard Trading Company. Liz Bronstein is the executive producer for The Lizard Trading Company, and Jason Carey is the executive producer for Animal Planet. Charlie Foley is vice president of development for Animal Planet.

Animal Planet Media (APM), a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 96 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions.

* Excluding movies.