Disney Channel Starts 2001 With Record Ratings for Tweens

Disney Channel Starts 2001 With Record Ratings for Tweens, Winning Primetime for 8th Consecutive Month
Original Movie "Zenon the Zequel," Original Comedy Series "Lizzie McGuire" and "Even Stevens" Fuel the Month

Led by the premieres of the Disney Channel Original Movie "Zenon the Zequel" and the original live-action comedy series "Lizzie McGuire," Disney Channel continues to rank No. 1 with tweens 9-14 in primetime.

In terms of total day tween viewership, Disney Channel climbed into the No. 2 spot, outperforming Cartoon Network, MTV and Fox Family. In January, Disney Channel's original fare outperformed its acquired programming by 57% in terms of households (1.1 vs 0.7), by 75% in kids 2-11 (2.1 vs 1.2), by 64% in kids 6-11 (2.3 vs 1.4) and by 50% in tweens 9-14 (1.8 vs 1.2).

"Zenon the Zequel" was Disney Channel's highest-rated original movie in the past twelve months, delivering a 3.3 household rating for its premiere airing on Friday, January 12, 2001, and making it the day's highest rated basic cable telecast among households. The movie delivered the largest household audience and the most viewers for any Disney Channel Original Movie premiere with 2,253,000 households and 3,668,000 viewers 2+ and reached 10,730,000 unduplicated viewers in its three weekend airings (Friday 7PM, Saturday 8PM, Sunday 9PM). Additionally for the week of 1/8/01 - 1/14/01, "Zenon the Zequel" beat a broadcast network telefilm in rating, households and total viewers (UPN's "Code Red: The Rubicon Conspiracy," 2.05 rating/ 2.1 million households/3.1 million viewers 2+). "Zenon the Zequel" also garnered the highest ratings of any basic cable telecast for the week among kids 9-11 and tweens 9-14.

The debut of "Lizzie McGuire" on Jan. 19 was the highest-rated Disney Channel original series premiere ever among kids 6-11 (8.1 rating/1.32 million viewers), tweens 9-14 (5.8 rating/961,000 viewers) and kids 2-11 (5.4 rating/1.42 million viewers). Among all basic cable networks for its debut week (1/15 - 1/21), the series' Sunday 6PM airing was the No. 1 ranked regularly scheduled telecast for the day among tweens 9-14, garnering a 7.5 rating/1.24 million tween viewers.

That same telecast was also the top ranked program in kids 6-11 in the 6-6:30PM timeslot against key kid cable competition, scoring a 8.0 rating/1.31 million kid viewers.

Last Friday, January 26, Disney Channel's original live-action comedy series "Even Stevens" saw its highest single telecast ratings ever in terms of households (2.1 rating/1.42 million homes). The series beat all key kid cablers in the time period (7-7:30PM) in coverage ratings with kids 6-11 (7.3 rating/1.19 million viewers) and tweens 9-14 (5.5 rating/905,000 viewers).

In January, Disney Channel also saw gains in its Playhouse Disney preschool programming block with the debut (1/22/01) of the new original series "The Book of Pooh." The series' M-Sun 7:30AM airing was up +55% from a year ago in terms of ratings with kids 2-5 and 31% with kids 2-11. Additionally, the 7:30AM airing won the week in its time period in its targeted kid 2-5 demo among key kid cable networks.

-- Posted January 31,2001

Source: Company Press Release