MTV's Highest Rated Series Telecast Ever, Season Three of 'Jersey Shore,' Delivers 8.45 Million Total Viewers for Premiere

NEW YORK, Jan. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- MTV, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B), premiered the third season of the wildly successful series "Jersey Shore" last night, January 6th, to a record-breaking audience. MTV recently closed out 2010 with 15% ratings growth among the network's targeted P12-34 audience, making it the largest year-over-year increase since 1999.  Already MTV's most watched series ever, "Jersey Shore" returned to the television landscape and picked up where it left off with all the drama, passion and GTL.

Additional points below:

"JERSEY SHORE" SEASON THREE PREMIERE

• Delivered 8.45 million total viewers.
• Averaged an 8.3 P12-34 rating and 6.5 million P12-34 viewers.
• MTV's most watched series telecast ever.
• Delivered more P12-34 viewers than any broadcast & cable television show this season *
• For P12-34, Jersey Shore premiere is +63% versus the Season Two premiere (8.3 vs. 5.1) and +36% versus the Season Two finale (8.3 vs. 6.1).  
• For P12-34, "Jersey Shore" is +46% vs. the Season Two  average (8.3 vs. 5.7).

* Season covers September 2010-Present and excludes sporting events.

About MTV:

MTV is the world's premier youth entertainment brand.   With a global reach of more than a half-billion households, MTV is the cultural home of the millennial generation, music fans and artists, and a pioneer in creating innovative programming for young people.  MTV reflects and creates pop culture with its Emmy®, Grammy® and Peabody® award-winning content built around compelling storytelling, music discovery and activism across TV, online and mobile.  MTV's sibling networks MTV2 and mtvU each deliver unparalleled customized content for young males, music fans and college students, and its online hub MTV.com is the leading destination for music, news and pop culture.  MTV is part of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.  For more information, go to www.mtvpress.com.

SOURCE MTV