The Fifth Annual "BET HONORS" Was Highest Rated and Most Watched Ever

BET HONORS Is The #1 Awards Show On Cable In 2012

Telecast Was The 3rd Most Social Program On Television

Twitter Traffic Peaked During The Mariah Carey And First Lady Michelle Obama Moments

NEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2012 -- The fifth annual BET HONORS telecast was the highest rated and most watched in its franchise history on BET. According to the Nielsen Company, the Monday February 13 9:00 p.m.* premiere telecast drew in 2.6 million viewers and it garnered a 2.2 coverage rating among 2 million households. Additionally, the premiere telecast is now the #1 awards show on cable this year among adults and enjoyed double and triple-digit gains compared to all prior BET HONORS premieres.

Acclaimed actress Gabrielle Union hosted the show for a fourth year, honoring renowned poet/author Maya Angelou (Literary Arts), internationally acclaimed musician Stevie Wonder (Musical Arts), Grammy-Award winning songstress Mariah Carey (Entertainer), influential filmmaker Spike Lee (Media), the heroic Tuskegee Airmen (Service) and inspirational coach and mentor Beverly Kearney (Education). The BET HONORS 2012 star-studded lineup included performances by Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Cicely Tyson, Common, Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Rowland with appearances by First Lady Michelle Obama, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Willow Smith, Jill Scott and John Singleton.

On the digital side, nearly 200,000 tweets were posted during the telecast, peaking at 2500 tweets-per-minute during the Mariah Carey and Michelle Obama moments. Throughout the telecast, more than 20 separate topics trended on Twitter referential to BET HONORS and it was the 3rd most social program on television on February 13, 2012 according to Trendrr.tv.

Encore telecasts:

Wednesday, February 15 at 10:00 p.m.*

Saturday, February 18 at 8:00 p.m.*

Thursday, February 23 at 10:00 p.m.*

In addition to the U.S. encore telecasts, the fifth annual BET HONORS will premiere internationally on Saturday, February 18 at 8:00 p.m. GMT/10:00 p.m. CAT.

Stephen Hill, President of Music Programming and Specials, BET Networks, and Lynne Harris Taylor, Vice President of Specials, BET Networks were the executive producers, along with Cossette Productions.

For more information on BET HONORS, visit www.bet.com/bethonors.

Source: BET Corporate Research via Nielsen Media Research LIVE + SAME DAY DATA

*All times are ET/PT.

About BET Networks

BET Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 90 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and sub-Saharan Africa. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions: BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; CENTRIC, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the 25- to 54-year-old African-American audience; BET Digital Networks - BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and production company with festivals and live events spanning the globe; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET in the United Kingdom and oversees the extension of BET network programming for global distribution.