The Hills Delivers for MTV

SANTA MONICA, March 27:
MTV scored the highest-rated telecast of the year to date for cable with the
season premiere of The Hills,
and has also seen top performances with other series, as well as for its online
and video-game elements.

The Hills extended season-three premiere on March 24 posted a
5.0 rating with the 12-to-34 set, making it not only the highest-rated telecast
of The Hills franchise, but
also the highest-rated telecast of the year to date for cable. The premiere
averaged more then 4.7 million viewers, which is also a franchise high. The
Hills section on MTV.com attracted
36-percent more unique visitors than the season-two premiere did, and saw a
59-percent increase compared to season one.

Randy Jackson Presents:
America’s Best Dance Crew has been
the top-rated telecast in its Thursday 8 p.m. time slot among viewers 12 to 34
across all of cable. It is also the highest-rated new MTV series with the same
demographic for 2008 to date. The series will roll out its live season finale
on March 27 at 10 p.m., when viewers’ votes will determine which dance crew
takes home top honors. Since the show’s March 20 broadcast, more than 28
million votes have come in via phone, text messaging and the web, with more
than 9 million votes cast in the first 24 hours of polling. The show’s section
on MTV.com generated more than 1 million streams in just the first 24 hours
after last week’s episode.

MTV has also picked up
another season of the hit series Making the Band, with the show’s last season reaching more than 55
million viewers and delivering 9 million-plus streams on MTV.com. The full
season ranked number one in its time period, Mondays at 10 p.m., with females
12 to 34 across all cable. Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Gauntlet III delivered a 2.4 rating for the full season among the
12-to-34 demographic, a 56-percent increase over the previous season. The show
reached more than 64 million viewers over the age of 2, with 31 million-plus
from the core 12-to-34 demo.

Apart from just its
series, MTV has also had success with its video games. MTV Games’ Rock Band has sold more than 1.8 million units since its
launch in November 2007 through February 2008. Rock Band downloadable content has gone six-times platinum,
with more than 6 million levels being purchased based on songs from its selection
of artists.

MTV’s online counterparts
are also performing well. MTV.com scored double-digital growth in 2007 and MTV
launched ten online communities and six new virtual worlds. Since the beginning
of the year, viewers have generated a cumulative 47 million page views and
spent more than 23 million total minutes on the company’s various online
communities.

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski