DISCOVERY CHANNEL'S SHARK WEEK 2013 DELIVERS MOST-WATCHED WEEK EVER IN NETWORK'S HISTORY

Shark Week 2013 Breaks Records as Network's Most Watched Week EVER Among Persons 18-49

August 13, 2013

(SILVER SPRING, MD) Discovery's SHARK WEEK 2013 was the most-watched SHARK WEEK in the event's 26 year history across all key demos including Persons, Men and Women 25-54/18-49/18-34 delivery (no exclusions) from August 4th to Saturday, August 10th. Not only that, but last week (8/5/13 - 8/11/13) was the most-watched week in the network's history among Persons 18-49 delivery. These record viewership ratings made Discovery Channel the #1 network in ALL OF TELEVISION among Men 18-49 delivery (no exclusions) last week, besting ALL broadcast and cable networks including NBC, which aired the return of NFL football.

SHARK WEEK'S first-ever late-night talk show, Shark After Dark, beat popular talk shows in the coveted Persons 18-34 delivery on Sunday, August 4th through Wednesday, August 7th. Additionally, Shark After Dark out-delivered every late-night cable talk show competitor including Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, TBS' Conan, Bravo's Watch What Happens Live and E!'s Chelsea Lately (including Lindsay Lohan as guest host on August 5th). Shark After Dark beat all of the above late-night cable talk shows among Persons 25-54 and 18-49 delivery (no exclusions) Sunday through Thursday.

In addition, SHARK WEEK 2013's programming earned titles as the highest-rated premieres in the history of Shark Week for their respective nights in Persons 18-49 including Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives (Sunday), Voodoo Sharks (Monday), I Escaped Jaws (Tuesday), Great White Serial Killer (Wednesday), Alien Sharks (Thursday) and Great White Gauntlet (Friday). SHARK WEEK 2013 hit a major milestone with the Sunday night premiere of Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives. The special earned the highest rating for any SHARK WEEK telecast EVER and ranks as the #2 ad-supported cable telecast for 3Q13 among P/M 25-54 and M18-49 delivery (excluding sports) behind only AMC's Breaking Bad season premiere.

SHARK WEEK 2013 ranks as Discovery Channel's most social programming event to date, generating more than 2.6 million Tweets from August 4-10 (a 63% increase over 2012's record-breaker). With 11 Worldwide and 15 U.S. Trending Topics on Twitter, every SHARK WEEK premiere trended and the tooth-filled lineup was a fixture every night last week on the list in primetime. Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives was the most social TV program across broadcast and cable for the week of July 29-August 4, according to SocialGuide, and SHARK WEEK nabbed 10 of the top 30 cable slots in the August 5-11 rankings. SHARK WEEK also dominated Facebook news feeds, with approximately 10 million interactions last week about the annual event on the platform and #SharkWeek as the top hashtag on Facebook, as well. Online at SharkWeek.com, the fansite saw a 121% increase in page views over last year and the the video lineup drew a 51% increase in streams year-over-year.

Other highlights include Discovery was the #1 primetime cable network among P/M/W 25-54, P/M/W18-49, P/M/W18-34 delivery (no exclusions, week of 8/5/13). This makes Discovery Channel the #1 cable network among Person 25-54 delivery for two consecutive weeks.

Source: Nielsen. NHI Calendar. 8/4/13 - 8/11/13. Live+SD AA% and (000).