14 DAY TRIAL // As proof that vampire stories are, indeed, the hottest commodity on the market right now, whether we’re talking feature films or television productions, the ratings for HBO’s “True Blood” continue to rise, Variety informs. Every Sunday night marks a new record for the vampire series, with the most recent episode showing a 20-percent rise in terms of audiences, to a record 5.33 million viewers.
Lifetime also scored major ratings with the premiere of “Project Runaway” this week, but the appeal of vampires was much stronger with the American public, even if on different segments of the audience. “Over at HBO, ‘True Blood’ surged more than 20% week to week to set series records (2.8/8 in 18-49, 5.33 million viewers overall). In the demo, the vampire skein ranked third among all primetime programs for the week.” Variety says of the figures made public the other day. Adding DVR and HBO On Demand, ratings jump to 12 million viewers for the most recent episode.
One of the reasons for the peak in interest in the series (although, for the sake of the argument, the first season was also very popular), is the number of love scenes included, as well as the aggressive promotional campaign played out in the media and on the Internet. With the season finale scheduled to air on September 13, as no new episode will air on the Labor Day weekend, estimates have it that a new ratings record will be set. Afterwards, the cast and producers will take a much deserved holiday to return to start shooting for season three, scheduled to premiere in the summer of 2010, before Christmas this year.
Undoubtedly, HBO has a winner on its hands, Variety says, and the numbers speak for themselves. “The premiere telecast was the first HBO series episode to top 5 million viewers since the finale of ‘The Sopranos’ drew 11.9 million in June 2007. And excluding ‘Sopranos,’ it’s the largest premiere-night audience for an HBO series since 5.4 million tuned in for the fourth episode of ‘Deadwood’ (which aired behind ‘Sopranos’) in April 2004. ‘True Blood’ is opening up some distance on skedmates ‘Hung’ (1.7/5 in 18-49, 3.28m) and ‘Entourage’ (1.9/5 in 18-49, 3.18m), although they were both up as well.” the same publication explains.
See below for a preview of the upcoming episode of “True Blood,” which will air on Sunday, August 30.