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It was a big night for History, whose 10-hour miniseries The Bible opened with 13.1 million viewers and 4.6 million adults 25-54 to rank as the No.1 cable entertainment telecast of the year. It was followed by the debut of the network’s first original scripted series, The Vikings, which rode The Bible‘s coattails to draw 6.2 million viewers, 2.5 million Adults 18-49 and 2.7 million Adults 25-54, beating the broadcast networks at 10 PM in the 18-49 demo. The rollout was part of a new strategy by male-skewing History which is launching the bulk of its programming after the end of football season this year.
The success of The Bible, which averaged 4.6 million adults 25-54, proves the enormous potential of religious-themed entertainment programming aimed at Christian audiences. GSN also has scored with its American Bible Challenge. In its marketing campaign, The Bible, executive produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett, used some of the companies that helped make Mel Gibson’s The Passion Of The Christ a blockbuster and used some of the same techniques, including doing grass-roots campaigning and gaining the support of prominent evangelicals. The premiere of the mini, which has received mixed reviews, was preceded by a massive push on Twitter, led by Burnett. “Clearly there is a nationwide groundswell that was waiting for this moment,” said Nancy Dubuc, President, Entertainment and Media, A+E Networks. “We launched an incredible and coordinated campaign.” The Bible, produced by Lightworkers Media and Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, averaged 14.8 million viewers, 5 million Adults 18-49 and 5.6 million Adults 25-54 over two airings last night. It will continue to air two-hour installments every Sunday, culminating with its conclusion on Easter Sunday.
Vikings‘ premiere ranks as the No.1 new cable series launch of the year among total viewers and Adults 25-54. Over two telecasts, the opener amassed 8.3 million viewers, 3.4 million adults 18-49 and 3.8 million adults 25-54. “We knew our audience had an appetite for this unexpected storytelling and it was a big bet that paid off,” Dubuc said. Vikings was created and written by Michael Hirst who serves as exec producer along with Morgan O’Sullivan, John Weber, Sherry Marsh, Alan Gasmer, James Flynn and Sheila Hockin. MGM TV is distributing internationally.
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Which made “The Bible” the most-watched program of the night on either cable or broadcast TV.
the bible is still the best book of all time!
Even my friends in other countries are talking about “THE BIBLE” and they also wish to watch this movie! How can I get a DVD of this?
Amen
Amen to the exploitation of religious zealots and supernatural worshipping fools!
+1
God still loves you and I as well.May your hate for us turn to love for all.
Your hate is showing.
Did that make you feel smart?
Hey, at least I got a kick outta of it.
~
Coat
Give it up for the lord!
No matter what your religious leanings, The Bible is starting off really cheesy. I don’t know of it’s the acting, the sets, the narration or what, but it’s just not at all what I was expecting.
I was impressed with the effects though… a lot better than what Once Upon a Time or some of these other fantasy-esque shows are selling.
Props to History for laying the money down…
Have to agree. I wanted to like THE BIBLE…I was hoping I would like it….but after an hour I bailed. If the first hour was any indication of the other 9 hours, I made the right decision to not only delete that episode from my DVR, but also to delete future recordings of the series.
It was a noble attempt by those involved, and I thank Downey, Burnett, and The History Channel…but it’s not a very good project. It never settles down and tells any one particular story very well. Characterizations are thin. Direction is aimless. Acting is…meh.
“More people are talking about God’s chosen people-Abraham and Moses-in one day than ever before” and “Ultimately THE BIBLE will be seen and felt by billions around the globe”?
Uh. Way to oversell your basic cable miniseries a bit there, History.
isn’t “Vikings” the show Alan Gasmer set up? Of all the guys who were left in the dust from the WMA/Endeavor merger, I think he is the only one to have had ANY KIND of a hit. Can anyone confirm this?
yes, it’s Alan’s show. YAY ALAN!!!
-RnsW
And Sherry Marsh I believe as well. Congrats to them both. Great opening…
Good on the Gaz!
It’s quite telling that The Bible(one of the oldest stories on this planet) gets higher numbers than the new crap,er,I mean programming of the broadcast networks…
Well, Christianity is pretty popular in America.
I think it would play better on the SyFy channel.
Your hate is not funny. Just makes you look bitter and stupid.
The irony of this comment I’m sure is lost on you Jansen.
(PS the “persecuted” Christians coming out on here throw that word hate around more than anyone else.)
Amen to that!
Proves yet again the increasing irrelevance of Nielsen, in its present form at least. Other cablers did well also while broadcast continued to struggle. Then there’s the DVR factor which is probably where a lot of the web programming is going. Up fronts beware!
Can you imagine broadcast doing a series about either the Bible or Vikings? They’d do another cop show or vanille sitcom or public domain characters in a modern setting, but never anything as interesting as real historical fiction. Broadcast is losing viewers because we are BORED with the same old sh*t over and over again. And this year’s pilots don’t sound any different.
The atheists and secularists are just jealous! People respond to entertaining archetypal storytelling of a spiritual nature. Why do ya think STAR WARS became so popular? Also, the nets have virtually abandoned the family audience, except for a few shows like NCIS. Hey, that’s Number 1 too! How about that!
Everything you said is so true. They don’t mind anything supernatural as long as it’s immoral, lowdown, and deceitful. But when anything supernatural puts a spotlight on their lies, indecency, lack of ethics, and general deplorable behaviors, suddenly “Supernatural” is a bad thing. LOL.. Isn’t that SPECIAL!…. And not a one of the haters of THE BIBLE can stop death from coming to get them nor stop the fires of Hell from burning them.
Another Christian that relishes the idea of strangers burning for eternity. How hateful and moronic religion is.
You equate not believing in God as being “immoral, lowdown, and deceitful,” when in fact atheists are some of most intelligent and compassionate people. Just because you’re close minded to other views and can’t accept that someone doesn’t believe in your fantasy doesn’t mean they have a “lack of ethics.” On the contrary. Look how much harm religion has done to this world because people can’t simply think for themselves.
You have no idea what you’re talking about. Do you actually even know any atheists or are you just going off of what your church friends gossip about at coffee hour?
The vikings was quite good. As a fan of game of thrones and spartacus, this is yet another smart and entertaining drama.
What little i saw of the Bible did not impress. Too much cheesy voiceover…
While they are doing scripted religious series, it would be interesting to see them cover the rig Veda. Any other scripted series part of the new lineup rolling out later this year?
Hey Gaz. Bet u miss those Wednesday staff meetings a little less today.
When you have TV shows based on the Bible, ratings skyrocket. God Bless America.
Time to get rid of “Modern Family” and replace it with biblical teachings.
The History Channel is making a habit of big event specials and miniseries that draw huge audiences and appeal to the sweet spot(18-49 demo audience)as well. Good for them. They’re quickly building a reputation as a trustworthy network for the masses with hardhitting and entertaining programming. Now we know why ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC all got crushed last night.
Glad to see people tuning in for some educational programming alongside Ancient Aliens.
Read Maureen Dowd’s column in yesterday’s (Sunday’s) NYT. Art and religion, religion and perception, perception and art.
The great ratings for the Bible is not that surprising. Bible themed shows and movies have always been popular with mass audiences. Even ABC knows this as they still broadcast the 1956 movie-The Ten Commandments in prime Time every year.
This is the sort of show that the Broadcast networks would have been showing in 1975- 1990 and would have gotten 40 share at the time.
This is a lesson to the Broadcasters- get back to your roots – create event television-market it like crazy- and the audiences will follow.
Saw Vikings last night. Enjoyed it a lot. Opening episode opens in the year 798 A.D. Explains why the Vikings had boats but had yet to “go west”.
According to the movie and book, God loves his so-called chosen people the Jews and doesn’t care about anyone else.
Time to change the name from History channel to Sci-Fi channel. These guys made millions on countless Mayan End of the World specials now “The Bible”.
I’m always ok with people talking about God