Project Runway Strong with Lifetime Debut

LOS ANGELES: The hit fashion-competition Project Runway made its debut outing on Lifetime, beating out all cable competition in key demographics and coming in as the highest-rated premiere for the series.

Project Runway generated a 3.2 rating among women 18 to 49 and a 3.3 rating in households on August 20 at 10 p.m., according to Nielsen Research. The program averaged more than 4.2 million total viewers and was the highest- rated competition reality series premiere on cable this year. Project Runway‘s debut was also the highest rated premiere in the network’s 25-year history, including with women 18 to 34 and adults 18 to 34. The previous seasons had aired on Bravo. The show was put on hold due to a legal dispute between NBC Universal and The Weinstein Company over the rights to move Project Runway to Lifetime. 

The companion series Models of the Runway generated a 1.4 rating among women 18 to 49 and a 1.6 household rating. The show averaged 1.9 total viewers. The debut of Project Runway and Models of the Runway was preceded by the two-hour special Project Runway: All-Star Challenge. The lead-in secured a 2.2 rating in women 18 to 49 and a 2.3 household rating. Project Runway: All-Star Challenge averaged 2.9 million total viewers.

Lifetime Digital also set records with the highest ever number of unique visitors (454,000) and visits (558,000). According to online tracking by Lifetime Internal Web Logs, Lifetime Digital achieved more than 4.6 million page viewers.

“We are thrilled about Project Runway’s very strong premiere, which surpassed all of our expectations,” said Andrea Wong, the president and CEO of Lifetime Networks. “Congratulations to our partners The Weinstein Company, Miramax Films, Bunim-Murray Productions, Full Picture Productions and Marie Claire, and Project Runway’s loyal viewers for this successful launch. We can’t wait to watch Project Runway and Models of the Runway along with them this season.”

“This is only the beginning of an exciting season, and I want to send a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone involved with the series, especially Heidi, Tim, Nina, Michael, Andrea Wong, JoAnn Alfano, Lew Goldstein, Bob Bibb and all the team at Lifetime,” added Harvey Weinstein, the co-chairman of The Weinstein Company. “Not only has this premiere generated the series’ highest rating, but the reviews have been the best we have ever received. I was thrilled to get our friends Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Fergie, Lindsay Lohan and Diane von Furstenberg to help us launch this season, and I look forward to many more surprises in the coming months.”